Category: Editing

Categories
A Little Red Ink Editing

Choosing a Freelance Editor

Choosing a freelance editor can be daunting. So many choices, so many possibilities. And if we’re honest? Many people claiming to be editors wouldn’t be good for you OR your book. Anyone who spots typos easily can say they’re an editor.

So how do you find one to work with who will come alongside you, champion you and your writing, and help you make it your best?

Get comfortable asking questions. Here are four that will save you a lot of headache and heartache:

  • Ask for recommendations.
  • Ask for references.
  • Ask for a sample.
  • Ask for a contract.

First, ask for recommendations.

Do you have writer friends who rave about their fabulous editors? Who trust their editor completely? Ask them why. What is the working relationship like? How long has the editor been editing? Is there a fast turnaround? Are there mistakes in the completed manuscripts? What are the editors’ greatest strengths?  Weaknesses? Who are the editor’s other clients? What are his or her credentials? Does he have professional licenses and degrees? Street cred? Does that matter to you? (It should.)

Don’t be afraid to ask other authors who write in your genre. Authors should find an editor who is comfortable editing what they write. First, there’s a unique skill set and nuances within each genre that can make a major difference. Second, don’t you want someone who’s passionate about what you write? Third, experience counts.

At some levels of editing, genre might not matter. But if you’re looking for a macro (big-picture, plotline, themes, character arcs) edit, genre experience is key. The difference between Science Fiction and bonnet fiction is usually vast. There’s Kerry Nietz, but he’s a worthy exception. At the very least, be sure that you’re working with a fiction editor if you write fiction and non-fiction if that’s your thing.

Silence in the Library
If you appreciate this, I might be the editor for you.

Look in the acknowledgements of your favorite books. Or use an author-editor “matchmaking” service like the Christian Editor Connection or the Editorial Freelancers Association. Those will help you get connected with serious editors who will bid on your work, and you’ll have the power to choose who’s the best fit. For free.

cec-square (2)

 

Once you’ve contacted the editors, ask them for references.

Many editors will have an endorsements page on their site.

A service like Kathy Ide’s Christian Editor Connection has vetted the editors in its database. Editors must pass tests for the various levels of editing and even some genre-specific tests.

Indie and hybrid authors, Susan Kaye Quinn’s Indie Author Survival Guide has a list of freelance editors, in addition to cover designers, formatters, and more. She’s even marked the ones she’s used and personally recommends.

And if you find an editor you think you’d like to work with but your schedules don’t line up, ask them for a recommendation. We editors network ourselves, and there are a few editors I’d be happy to recommend (and trust with my own work).

You can also ask for a sample.

Samples will give you an idea of the editor’s styles and strengths. Some editors (like me) will do a free three-page sample for any project over 25 pages. Some will ask you to pay up front, but why not pay for an hour’s worth of work and learn their editing style? Or pay for an edit on a piece of flash fiction. It’s short, but you’ll learn how the editor works, whether they add a little sugar with their constructive criticism, and whether they’ll definitely focus on the areas you think are the weakest.

The important thing is this: Editing is a professional relationship. As such, you need to be able to work well together, and the editor needs to sharpen you. They need to—not only tell you what isn’t working—but be able to suggest how to fix it. A sample edit shows whether the editor will truly improve your work.

Listen. Writing is art. You’ve heard of the fiction “rules.” There are many tried and true industry standards that do make writing stronger; there are also ways to bend and push those boundaries to powerful effect.

Lastly, ask the editor for a contract. Bare minimum, get a quote and clear expectations in writing.

contract signature

Having things in writing will keep the relationship professional. Expectations for the timeline and the level of editing are clear. If you’re hiring someone to finish the work by August 30th, and they take until October with no communication or explanation, you’ll have proof that you were wronged. There are people out there masquerading as editors who will take your money and never send you anything. (This is another reason a word-of-mouth recommendation is a wonderful thing). You have a right to protect your work.

A contract can protect the editor, too. If you agree to send someone a manuscript for a macro edit, and then you make major revisions and send it back for another, they’ll get paid for that work as well. Clear expectations, on both sides, are a must.

The bottom line is this: Do your research, and find an editor who does both what you’re looking for and what you need. You just might find a champion.

Is there anything you’d add?

A big shout out to Mikeedesign, Pascal, Kathy Ide, and Juli for the images.

Categories
Editing The Critical Reader

Why Did My Favorite Character Have to Die?

Death of a Favorite Character

by Alycia W. Morales

When I started reading the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, friends were conflicted over the ending of the final book in the series, Allegiant. Some said to read Divergent and Insurgent and stop there, as their disappointment with the third book was great.

How dare she kill that character?[bctt tweet=”Why would an author kill a reader’s favorite character? #amreading #amwriting”]

A character everyone – obviously – loved.

Here are three reasons I could see why Ms. Roth killed off her character:

1. Someone had to die an unselfish death in order to preserve the lives of those around them. To give those left behind a better future – a hopeful one.

2. The ending for the other main character would not have been the same had the other character lived.

3. There was no riding-off-into-the-sunset-happily-ever-after alternative ending for this series. At least not that I could see.

If you’ve been a writer for more than … oh … a few months, you’ve heard that every now and then someone must die. It’s what gets you out of a writing rut. It’s what moves the story forward. It’s what gets the action going again.[bctt tweet=”#Writers, sometimes you need to kill your favorite characters. “]

And if you’ve read enough books, you already know that not every story has a happy ending. Life doesn’t. Why should every book? Yes, happy endings are nice. Yes, we want to see the bad guy die and the good guy survive, but sometimes the good guy has to die in order for the bad guy to get the appropriate judgment.

At least in the case of Allegiant, the death leaves us with a satisfying ending. It would absolutely have driven me crazy if the ending had been stilted or left hanging. I applaud Ms. Roth for leaving me in tears but with the knowledge that it was worth every word.

So, Writer, is there a character in your novel that needs to die? Could you twist your ending in such a way that your readers mourn the loss of their favorite character yet recognize the deep need for someone so brave and selfless to die?

 

Categories
Grammar and Grace

How to Choose the Correct Pronoun

What’s wrong with this sentence? Me and Cam finished the Army Ten-Miler. Me should be I, right? Easy. Most people agree pretty quickly on that sentence structure.

How about this one? Mrs. Powell invited Sara and I to lunch.  Anything wrong? Yes. I should be me in this sentence. Although me is the correct pronoun, more and more professional people today (including print reporters as well as newscasters) use the wrong pronoun.

Does it sound tricky? Sometimes I is correct. Sometimes me is correct. How do you choose the correct pronoun?

Here’s a simple way to check:

Mrs. Powell invited Sara and ______ to lunch.

How would you say it if the invitation included only the speaker?

Mrs. Powell invited I to lunch. No.
Mrs. Powell invited me to lunch. Yes.
So—Mrs. Powell invited Sara and me to lunch. Yes.

I in the above sentence is a direct object.

*Pronouns that work as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of prepositions must be objective pronouns.

Here’s a list of objective pronouns:

me                      us                     whom
you                     you                  whomever
him, her, it      them

A direct object tells who or what receives the action done by the subject.

Irene Hannon has written many books.|
The Steelers will beat the Patriots this year.
The children’s librarian read them a story.

An indirect object tells for whom or for what an action is done.

The blogger wrote his authors an email.
Bailey and I sent the seniors an invitation.
Zac Brown could sing me a song any time.

Here’s a list of prepositions:

About             along               before             between          during             in
above              amid                behind            beyond            except             including
across             among             below              by                    excluding        inside
after                as                     beneath           despite           following        into
against           at                      beside              down               from                like

 

near                through          until                within                as to                    with regard to
of                     to                       up                    without             except for           because of
on                    toward            upon               according to    in addition to    by means of
over                under               via                   along with        in case of            in regard to
since               underneath   with                apart from       instead of            in spite of

 

Use the simple test above, and you shouldn’t have any problem choosing the correct pronoun.

Happy writing!

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

Author of Rescued Hearts
               Irish Encounter
              Mars…With Venus Rising
Visit Hope at www.hopetolerdougherty.com

 

 

 

 

 

.

Categories
Uncategorized Write Justified

To Join or Not to Join – That’s the Rhetorical Device

Last month I introduced the concept of rhetorical devices. We started with a couple familiar devices that students of English would know if they’d been paying attention in school—metaphor, simile, and analogy. So much for the basics. Let’s explore a few literary tools whose names are far less well known, but that you’ve likely seen or used. You probably just didn’t know they had a specific name or function.Death_to_stock_photography_weekend_work (10 of 10)

Asyndeton

You may spot the technique in these sentences:

·         We came, we saw, we conquered.

·         The fair goers spent the day eating, walking, resting, riding, laughing.

·         God is relentless, personal, intensely private.

You probably notice that none of these sentences uses a conjunction (joiner) in a series of words or phrases. That’s asyndeton—omitting the conjunction in series to give a particular effect.[bctt tweet=” …asyndeton … steps up the pacing or rhythm and gives the sentence a punch, a more precise and concise meaning. #writer #writerslife”] It helps to convey a sense of spontaneity, immediacy, incompleteness.

Notice how leaving out the conjunction and in the third sentence, God is relentless, personal, intensely private, gives the feeling that the sentence is not complete, that there is more to God than these three attributes—a wholly appropriate feeling when writing about God.

Asyndeton comes from Latin and Greek, syndeton meaning connected; the prefix a renders it unconnected or without conjunctions. An asyndeton can be used in a series of words, phrases or sentences, or between sentences and clauses.

Conversely, polysyndeton is the repetition of a conjunction. While it is structurally the opposite of asyndeton it has a similar effect of multiplying, growing energy, and building up.

·         Armed with diapers and bottles and formula and blankets, the new parents left the hospital.

You get the sense that these folks are embarking on a monumental task, don’t you?

Polysyndeton is most effective when used with three or four elements. Notice the strength piling on the ands gives to Spencer Tracy’s pro-evolution argument in the 1960 movie, Inherit the Wind:

“Can’t you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding.”

[bctt tweet=”Both asyndenton and polysyndeton are useful tools in giving greater power to your words, establishing a rhythm that creates a feeling of rising action, giving the impression there’s more that could be said. #authors #writing”] But leave it to a truly inspired writer to skillfully shift from polysyndeton to asyndeton.

Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him (Isaiah 24:1-2 KJV).

Categories
The Efficiency Addict

Picturing Your Characters

As writers, we do many things to capture what drives our characters. We’ll complete questionnaires detailing their likes and dislikes, create a complete family tree, and of course, analyze their goals, motivations, and conflicts. These are useful tools. However, sometimes we just want to SEE our characters and inhabit their world. When a visual aid is needed, here are three ways for picturing your characters lives:

The Wall Board

This old school method is still quite helpful. Hang a board filled with pictures of your characters and setting(s), and it is constantly before you as you write your piece.

Tips for your wall board:

  • Use foam board instead of poster board. Foam board is stiff and can be leaned against a wall. Poster board will curl over time and fall.
  • Divide your board into sections. In the example below, the top is for main characters while the bottom covers the setting. Remember, to fully capture a character, you need to see them in your story’s environment.

Character Board Layout to help you picture your characters in your story's setting.

  • Look for pictures of your characters in clothing catalogs or fashion magazines. Not only will you capture your character’s style, you’ll also have a nice description of everything they’re wearing. This is great for dressing a character who’s style is not your own. FYI – you can go online to see many companies’ catalogs or request a paper version be sent to your home.

Pinterest Boards

If you’re on Pinterest, you have a ready-made electronic format for researching your characters. Create a board for each of your main characters and pin away with everything that makes them unique.

Tips for your Pinterest boards:

  • Make your character boards secret. You don’t want others to see these wonderful people you’re creating until your story is done.
  • Use Pinterest to research special topics for your story. Beyond boards for your main 2-3 characters, you can also have boards researching a specific location, time period, event, etc. Below is a board I keep on the 1930s. When I look through that board, I not only see information but also the colors, style, and feel of the period.

Pinterest for Writers - Create a secret board dedicated to an time period, event, or setting.

[bctt tweet=”Use Pinterest to research special topics for your story. #HowTo #WritersWrite”]

Bonus: Once your book is sold, you can share your Pinterest Board with the cover artist and marketing group. They’ll immediately have a feel for your characters and the world these people represent.

Scrivener Character Pages

If you’re already using this writing software, Scrivener has a whole section devoted to character research. If you’re unfamiliar with Scrivener, you can see a demonstration video of this software here: www.LiteratureAndLatte.com.

Items of note within Scrivener:

  • This program comes with a basic character template you can customize for your story.
  • You can insert pictures or website links to go along with your notes.
  • Your character profiles stay with your story. When you open your story file, all your character notes open with it. As you write, your can easily reference or update your character notes because everything is with your manuscript document.

Now that you can see your characters, I’m sure there is a lot for them to do. So, get back to writing. Their stories are waiting!

[bctt tweet=”Sometimes we want to SEE our characters and inhabit their world. #AuthorLife #Writing”]

Categories
Grammar and Grace

Apostrophes Rule!

Let’s talk about apostrophes today. They’re little floating dots with tails that cause major problems for some people.

Apostrophes don’t have to be scary, however. Here are some easy rules to follow so that you can apply an apostrophe with confidence.

  1. Apostrophes are used in contractions in place of the omitted letter or letters:

You are  =  You’re

I am  =  I’m

He cannot   =  He can’t

She could not  =  She couldn’t

They will  =  They’ll

It is  =  It’s

  1. Apostrophes are used to show possession:

The scout’s badge—the badge of the scout

The girl’s book—the book of the girl

*If you have more than one thing possessing something, here’s what it looks like:

Three boys’ coats were left in the lobby. (Make the noun plural first, then add the apostrophe to show     possession.)

The children’s teacher arrived late.

  1. Apostrophes aren’t used for the following possessive pronouns or adjective:

Hers

His

Ours

Theirs

Yours

Whose

Its

Those last two words trip up a lot of people. Notice that its is a correct word. It’s is also a correct word, BUT they are not interchangeable. Whose and who’s both are correct in different applications.

Here’s an easy way to check your sentence for the correct usage:

  1. It’s going to rain today =  It is going to rain today.
  2. It’s rained all day =  It has rained all day.

Both are correct.

  1. The bear licked it’s paw. WRONG!

Remember—it’s is a contraction. When you see it’s, read it as it is. Does the following sentence make sense?

The bear licked it is paw.

NO!

The bear licked its paw.

Yes!

The same logic can apply to whose and who’s.

  1. Who’s going to the party? =  Who is going to the party?

Yes!

  1. Who’s car is parked on the lawn? =  Who is car is parked on the lawn?

WRONG!

  1. Whose car is parked on the lawn?

CORRECT!

Apostrophes don’t have to be intimidating. Follow these three easy rules, and you won’t have to wonder if your apostrophe is hanging in the right place.

You might even find yourself correcting someone else’s.

Categories
Write Justified

Life is Like…

Rhetorical questions don’t require (or deserve) an answer. Do they?

But how about those rhetorical devices—those figures of speech that bring our writing to life. They are the spice of the English language that engage readers, tickle the taste buds of their imagination, and persuade.

Over my next few posts I’ll be covering the familiar and not-so-familiar rhetorical devices that pepper good writing. There’s even a few that you’ve probably encountered, but didn’t recognize as rhetorical devices and very likely are not familiar with their names.

Comparison is a favorite rhetorical device and it comes in at least three forms:

·         Simile compares one object to another. It generally uses like or as. Like for noun comparisons; as for verb comparisons.

Gramma’s hands shook like a fluttering leaf as she opened the long-awaited package. (noun hands compared to noun leaf)

A smile spread across her face as slowly as honey dripping from a jar. (verb spread compared to dripping)

 ·         Analogy is a useful way to compare a difficult or abstract concept with something more familiar or concrete. Simile and analogy may overlap, but a simile is generally more creative, used primarily for emphasis or effect. Analogy fills a more functional role, often explaining an abstract concept in concrete terms, and thus is often more extended.

Forest Gump’s analogy comparing life to a box of chocolates gives us a great visual for a complex concept. Who hasn’t surveyed a Whitman’s sampler, studied the inside cover to determine which foil-covered confection satisfies their sweet tooth only to discover that what you thought was a chocolate covered caramel was really a chocolate covered cherry. Yeah, life is like that. You can’t always tell how something is going to turn out by appearances.

·         Metaphor compares two different things by stating that something is something else—without the use of like or as. Often you can spot a metaphor by the to be verb.

 The late summer thunderstorm was a snarling, angry dog, grabbing its victims in its teeth, shaking them violently before losing interest and moving on to the next county.

 Or this line from Shakespeare: The eyes are the window of the soul.
The Bard uses familiar objects—eyes and windows—to say that the eyes are to the soul as windows are to a house. I see what’s really inside a person—their feelings, passion—when I look into their eyes.

You see what these comparisons are doing? They are giving the reader a visual, playing into their imagination. And giving your reader fresh imagery or a new perspective makes your writing more memorable and persuasive.

A word or two of caution. Be careful about overusing these figures of speech or mixing metaphors. I think you’ll get the point from these illustrations, drawn supposedly from actual student papers.

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just
before it throws up.

Her pants fit her like a glove, well, maybe more like a mitten, actually. (This one also should be a warning to avoid clichés.)

She was a couch potato in the gravy boat of life, flopping dejectedly on the sofa. –

 Here’s a tip: if a metaphor makes you snort, you should probably reconsider and rewrite.

You can find more humorous figures of speech at: https://writingenglish.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/the-25-funniest-analogies-collected-by-high-school-english-teachers/

Categories
Editing The Critical Reader

Can a Novel’s Setting Come to Life?

A Desert Setting

by Alycia W. Morales

Have you ever been reading a novel when it suddenly dawns on you that the setting has become like a character in the book?

As I got into Aaron Gansky’s novel, The Bargain, I couldn’t help but notice how important the setting was. It’s the first time I’ve read a book and the setting has jumped off the page at me as if it had come to life.[bctt tweet=”Have you ever read a novel where the setting came to life? #amreading #amwriting”]

A brief description of the novel:

Connor Reedly is a journalist whose wife is dying. She has chosen to go to her sister’s home in a small desert town named Hailey. It’s there Connor is approached by a local citizen and told he must write ten articles or his wife will die and Hailey will be destroyed. He’s challenged with finding the good in a not-so-good place.

Five reasons why I believe Aaron nailed the setting:

1. It matched the theme of his story. Between Connor’s dying wife and the dying town, the image of death a desert brings to mind fits perfectly.

2. It reflected the lives of the local citizens (secondary characters). Then there’s the challenge of finding good people in the midst of an evil society and secondary character motivation. What setting could be more challenging than the desert? (Maybe the ocean, but it wouldn’t have worked as well in this story.)

3. It mirrored the protagonist’s career. As a journalist, Connor had to dig to find the truth in matters. There is plenty of sand to dig through in a desert.

4. It even resembled the antagonist. Connor’s story involves a lot of pressure from an outside source. The heat of that pressure is well-matched by the heat of the desert.

5. It represented the protagonist’s character arc. Connor had to make more than one life-changing decisions throughout the novel. Think “Refiner’s Fire.”[bctt tweet=”The setting of your novel can make a huge difference in your story if you choose the right one. #writing”]

So, Writer, think about the novel you’re writing right now. Is there a particular setting that would match the theme of your story? Would a different setting better amplify the things your character is going to suffer through or experience during their arc? Consider alternate settings for your novel and see if one may be better than the one you’re using now.

 

 

Categories
Polishing Your Message

Common Error Comma Splices

 

Commas, commas, commas! There are so many rules, but the most common rule broken is creating a comma splice.

How do you know when you have made an error creating a comma splice? When you join two complete sentences together using nothing other than a comma to join them. If you can read the two sentences alone and they have a subject, verb, and a complete thought, you cannot join them together with only a comma.

So how do you correct a comma splice error?

[bctt tweet=”how do you correct a comma splice”]

There are several ways to correct comma splices, but the most common corrections include three easy steps.

1. Separate the two sentences with a period.

2. If the sentences are related in topic, you may join them together with a semicolon (;).

3. Join the two sentences together with a comma and a conjunction. An easy way to recall your conjunctions is to think

of the word FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Formula: Complete Sentence + , Fanboy + Complete Sentence

SAMPLE:

Every day this week God has been showing off, but I am not surprised. Together we have had a terrific week full of surprises and challenges, yet with Him by my side, consistent joy and peace fueled each day and each task.  

Please do not think every time conjunction is used in a sentence a comma is required before it. That is not the case. Only when a complete sentence is present on each side of the conjunction is the comma required before the conjunction.

Again, when we join sentences with a comma alone, it creates a comma splice, and we can correct the error with the three ways above. Sentences written side by side with no punctuation may be referred to as  run-on or fused sentences and may confuse readers. We want to take the time to polish our writing and use our commas effectively.

Comma use can be confusing and often subject to style preferences, but regarding a commas splice, it is always incorrect usage. Proper use of commas will polish and add clarity to the work.

Next month I look forward to sharing how using transitions will help polish your writing. Currently I am experiencing  and embracing multiple major life transitions, and God is undoubtedly  polishing my faith! I am so excited!

[bctt tweet=” recall your conjunctions #commas # FANBOYS”]

Image Credit: Kevin Bondelli

Categories
The Efficiency Addict

Tracking Your Writing Submissions

Writing Essentials: How to track your article submissions.

Today we’re going to talk about the benefits of tracking your writing submissions and learn an easy way to do it so you can reap all the rewards. Our focus today will be on tracking article submissions but this system can be used for many forms of writing.

So, why might you want to track your writing submissions?

  • See what’s working for you. Who’s accepting your work? What types of articles are selling? Which markets are paying best for what you do?
  • Gauge your productivity. How many articles did you submit this month? Are you on target for your goals? Were your goals reasonable?
  • Determine if follow up is needed. Is it past the time when you should have heard a response from that editor? Scanning your spreadsheet will tell you which contacts are due for follow up.
  • Find your articles when you need them. Ever searched for a piece you’ve written and can’t remember where you put it? Those days are about to be a distant memory.

[bctt tweet=”How to find the articles you write when you need them. #WritersRoad, #HowTo”]

Tracking Your Submissions

To use this system you’ll want to create some folders on your computer. Start by creating a Submissions folder. Inside that folder add the following folders:

1-Submitted

2-Accepted

3-Recycle

4-Photos

You’ll also include your tracking spreadsheet in the Submissions folder. You can download a pre-formatted one here:

Submissions Spreadsheet (Excel version)

Submissions Spreadsheet (Word version)

Submissions Spreadsheet (PDF version if you prefer to print it and track by hand.)

*Notice the spreadsheet is titled 0-Submission Tracking. Having the 0 in front keeps your spreadsheet at the top of your folder list.

When you submit an article, add it to your spreadsheet and put it in your Submitted folder. When you receive a reply, update your spreadsheet and move your article to the Accepted or Recycle folder. Notice you don’t have a Rejected folder. All items that aren’t accepted can be pitched elsewhere or potentially revised and resubmitted. If an article is in your Recycle folder, it’s one that can be reused.

Using the Spreadsheet

Most of the columns are self-explanatory: Article Name, Publication, Submit Date, etc. Two columns warrant discussion: Pics Sent and Notes.

Pics Sent – In this column, list what pictures you submit and add them to your Photos folder. If you collect pictures elsewhere on your computer, don’t move those to this Photos folder. The only pictures you want here are your author headshots and those that correspond to a specific article. A word about headshots: create a simple naming system for your options. For me, I use Cynthia Owens 1, Cynthia Owens 2, etc. In my Pics Sent column, I abbreviate this to CO-1.

Notes – In this column, add items such as the name of the receiving editor, the date by which you should have heard a response, whether rejected pieces receive a response, and any other details that may help you. When you review your spreadsheet, you’ll see a blank space in your Outcome column and can check your Notes to see what steps to take next.

Special Cases – Revisions

If an editor asks for revisions, you’ll want to take some specific steps.

  1. Make a new entry on the spreadsheet.
  2. Put “Revision” in the Notes column of this new entry and add any pertinent details. This shows you the number of times you redo a piece as well as the types of things editors want you to revise. Periodically, review your Revision notes to know where you should focus to improve your writing craft.
  3. Keep the article name the same but add R1 (or 2 or 3) at the end of the title. Example: The Power of Dialogue becomes The Power of Dialogue-R1.
  4. Put the revised article in your Submissions folder and leave the original article there as well.
  5. When the editor makes a final decision, move all versions of the article to the appropriate folder—Accepted or Recycle. You’ll know which was the most revised work because it will be the last piece in the group.

Now that you can track your submissions, it’s time to write something new. Get to it!

[bctt tweet=”The benefits of tracking your article submissions. #AuthorLife #HowTo”]

Categories
A Little Red Ink Editing

Why Hire an Editor?

Why hire an editor if you’ve got a great critique group and you’re a grammar stud?

1461260062_7c3bf62f2e_o

Answer: A fresh set of eyes. But there’s more.

A good editor is worth his weight in Sumatra. But a great editor? When you find someone you can trust with your baby, whose goal is honestly to help YOU make it the best it can be? It’s tough to put a price tag on that kind of worthy investment. It could pay you back.

And then some.

Over the next few months, we’ll hash out specifics on where to find a qualified editor (and how to whittle down the choices), the different levels of editing (substantive, line editing, copy editing, proofreading), and what’s important in navigating the editor/author relationship. But for today, let’s stick to why you need a freelance editor.

2953289727_9356eb7b41_o (2)

Whether you want to pitch your work to an agent or acquisitions editor in TradPub Land, or you want to brave the Indie Ocean and see this writing thing through on your own, hiring a qualified freelance editor is a business-savvy move.

[bctt tweet=”Hiring a qualified freelance editor is a business-savvy move. Let’s talk reasons. #amwriting #amediting #A3″]

A good editor will give you professional, objective feedback.

A fiction editor knows what to look for in a story, in a plot, in pacing, in character arc. A non-fiction editor has an edge when it comes to structuring your book with compelling advice or arguments, including anecdotal evidence and research (and they’ll know how to document it). Both have learned the craft by either studying it for themselves (fellow-writers) or through professional courses of study.

All good editors—no matter the material—will be objective. They’ll tell you where your pacing drags, where your protagonist acts out of character, where your argument falls flat, and where you’ve broken a promise to the reader. They won’t be cruel, but they’re not family. They’ll be honest without worrying about facing you at the Thanksgiving table.

A good editor will notice things you miss.

Some editors, like me, are also writers. (And even we hire editors before we publish, if we’re wise.) When we spend hour upon hour staring at All the Words, our minds begin to fill in words that ought to be there but aren’t. During your self-editing/revision process, it’s easy to move things around and forget to tweak every detail. Especially in fiction, the story is a tapestry, tightly weaved. Every single thread matters, and if you pull one, it tugs others, causing a wrinkle in the story surface. An editor’s job is to offer a fresh set of eyes, catch the wrinkles, and smooth those details out.

2349630643_52f4f12da9_o

A good editor will spot things you overdo.

Maybe you have a pet word or phrase. Perhaps you overuse a sentence structure. You might over-explain when you ought to give your readers more credit. You might have several characters who sound exactly alike when they speak. Or—in the larger scheme of things—you could be so careful to consider your surprise ending as you write that you inadvertently give too many clues.

Subtlety is a beautiful thing.

I often make guesses about where a story will go in the margin. Sometimes, writers have laughed because they’ve done such a fabulous job of setting up the red herrings, I was completely blindsided; a few have decided to rewrite, because they realized their plot was too predictable. With nearly every client, I hear, “I don’t know why I didn’t see that!” And often, those clients learn from the first edit. When they come back with another manuscript, they’re not making the same mistakes anymore. Their craft is improving from the editing process.

[bctt tweet=”A good editor will help you hone your writing while keeping your voice intact. #amwriting #amediting #A3″]

A good editor will help you hone your writing while keeping your voice intact.

If an editor rewrites your words or changes your story to the point that it doesn’t sound like you anymore, step back. Evaluate whether they’re showing you how a few simple tweaks can tighten your writing, or whether they’re changing your voice. Either way, they shouldn’t do this all over your manuscript. They should help you see the possibilities, make suggestions, and let you decide. You are, after all, the author.

Day 100, 365, KEEP OFF THE GRASS

There are rules, and then there is poetic license. Personally, I believe in knowing the rules well enough to break them with flair. I also believe that—in dialogue and deep POV—a character’s voice ought to shine through more than the author’s. And a character may not use perfect grammar. There is freedom in writing well enough to bend the rules effectively.

There are great editors out there. The goal ought to be to find an editor who works well with YOU, sharpens YOU, encourages YOU, learns YOUR voice, believes in YOUR story, and will help you make it the best it can be. Finding one can be an ordeal, but when you’ve found them, the editing process can actually be fun.

[bctt tweet=”I believe in knowing the rules well enough to break them with flair. Character voice–author voice–matters. #amediting #amwriting”]

Hit me in the comments with this: What’s important to YOU in an editor?

Thanks to Jennifer Bradford, Matt Hampel, Nic McPhee, and Andreas-Photography for the most excellent images. They win the Internet.

Categories
Grammar and Grace

Book List for Editing

The concept of selecting a good product. Computer generated 3D photo rendering.

Punctuation and grammar come easily to me. I remember rules from elementary school, can recite a whole list of prepositions, and can use a semi-colon with confidence. For those times that I’m stumped about comma placement or which word to choose, I have a few go-to reference books that help me out every time.

Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, is a small book packed with information. Chapters include Elementary Rules of Usage, Elementary Principles of Composition, A Few Matters of Form, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused, and my edition, the third, has a chapter called An Approach To Style. This potent little package should sit on every writer’s desk within easy reach.

edit 3

I also use The McGraw-Hill College Handbook. It lists prepositions and conjunctive adverbs, shows how to fix dangling modifiers, and explains parallelism and subjunctive tense. This book isn’t the only one that can help with problems, but it’s the one I have. You probably have an English handbook left over from your college days. Check your book shelves.

eidt 2

Three other books that I’d recommend as references are Renni Browne and Dave King’s, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Revision and Self-Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell, and Gary Provost’s, 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing. These are helpful books writers should read and reread as often as possible.

edit 1png

All these books are good references, but I’ll be here to help, too. In each post, I’ll show the correct usage of a punctuation or grammar rule and try to explain the reason behind it.

Let me know if you have a question you want to see addressed. Thanks for your imput!

 

 

Categories
Write Justified

5 Words That Spellcheck Won’t Catch

Thanks to computer technology you no longer need to be a great speller to be a writer. If you want to be a published writer and you’re relying on spell check to make your prose error-free, don’t. The Spelling & Grammar function in Word is indispensable as a first check on typos and grammar, but it takes a human knowledgeable in the quirks of the English language to catch these homonyms.

Complement-compliment: This is an easy pair to confuse since they both have a rather positive meaning. They are not interchangeable, however. Use compliment when you’re telling your mother-in-law how great that hat looks on her. You might even tell her it complements her eyes. Here’s the difference: to compliment is to praise or offer a positive comment. Use complement when something or someone completes or makes perfect.

Joe’s baritone is the perfect complement to Alice’s soprano. They make lovely music together.

OR      The coral-colored ribbon complements your auburn hair.

Bear-bare: The errors I see are not so much with these root words, as knowing to which a suffix may be added. Hint: only one. So it might be helpful to review the meanings of the root words. Although Merriam-Webster identifies six distinct meanings of bare, they all convey the sense of emptiness, lack, uncovered, lacking clothing, scant. Bear has assorted noun and verb meanings. The meaning that seems to cause difficulty for adding the suffix able, is to endure or carry the weight of something.

Jennifer has quite a load to bear right now with a sick child, a laid-off husband, and obstinate parents.

With the right attitude and encouragement, however, her load may be bearable. But never bareable.

Past-passed: Passed is the past and past participle form of pass. It is almost always a verb. (The exceptions are so rare, I’m not going to confuse you with those.) Past, however, can be used as noun (a previous time), adjective (gone by), adverb (to pass by or go beyond), or preposition (beyond the age for or of, later than, after).

In the past, (noun) many folks passed (verb) time in face-to-face conversation with their neighbors. Now, they rush past (adverb) one another in a mad dash to get home and past (adverb) the next level of CandyCrush.

Waste-waist: I don’t want to waste a lot of time on this pair. Suffice to say, use waist to refer to the midsection, midriff, midpoint. Waste has multiple meanings and uses: to consume or spend uselessly; to become physically worn, lose strength; left over, unconsumed products. If you’re going to worry about one of these, it should probably be over wasted time, not your waist line.

Peak-peek-pique: And finally, my favorite personal pet peeve. It seems many writers know the meaning of the verb pique, to arouse one’s interest, but apparently not its unique spelling. It’s often written as peak which means top or summit (mountain peak) or peek which means to glance or glimpse (take a peek at what’s behind the curtain). Pique can also be used as a noun meaning feeling of irritation, resentment as in wounded pride. If you want to send an editor into a fit of pique, pay attention to your peaks and peeks.

And don’t rely on spell check.

Categories
Grammar and Grace

Grammar and Grace

The concept of selecting a good product. Computer generated 3D photo rendering.

Hello, I’m Hope. A long, long time ago I used to teach English on the college level. I taught literature and essay writing, business writing, and technical writing. I also got to teach grammar.

I loved teaching commas and semi-colons and apostrophes except for the whiners and complainers who hated it, the jokers who couldn’t understand why they needed punctuation after the dreaded English class.

You may also ask why punctuation is important. It’s important because commas, and periods, and semi-colons are like road signs in traveling. You need them to help you and your readers along, to help you understand where you are and where you’re going. Lynn Truss addresses the necessity of punctuation in her humorous book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

Untitled

Grammar, mechanics, word usage—all are important to telling your story in the clearest, best way, and isn’t that the goal of writers?

In this column, I’ll try to help you understand the finer points of using commas and the correct pronoun among other writing questions because I’m one of those people who carries a pen and is ready to use it to add a needed apostrophe or, more times than not, to delete an errant apostrophe floating on hand-lettered signs at checkouts.

I also love wordplay and diagramming sentences. Yes, really. In fact, I have a book on the subject—Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey

Categories
Writer's Block

The Blank Page

There’s nothing more daunting than a blank page and no idea where to go next. Over the next months we will be sharing ways to overcome the dreaded Writer’s Block.

Of course, our first line of defense should be prayer but often it’s the last thing we do. And, even if we won’t admit it, we sometimes feel that people use the statement “pray about it” just to get out of offering us any other help.

Writing Prompt #1: PRAY

   Writing Prompt #2: USE PICTURES TO JUMP START YOUR STORY

We are going to start with the following picture. I want you to study this picture and then write the first page of your story based on what you see and feel when you look at it. Hook me. Make me want to read your book. Email me your stories and I’ll pick a winner to announce in next month’s column.

Apply to Your Story

How to use this idea in your own story: Start from the scene where your character is stuck. Use the idea of a picture to see and feel what your character is seeing and feeling. Go on with your story from there.

Keep Praying and Keep Writing!

[bctt tweet=”There’s nothing more daunting than a blank page #writersblock #novel #writingtip” via=”no”]

 

 

 

Categories
Polishing Your Message

Three Steps to Confident Feedback

Ever ask a friend’s, relative’s or colleague’s opinion on something you’ve written? You wait patiently, trying not to stare, interpreting each facial expression as a sign or clue. Finally a reply, “I like it,” or “It’s good,” is uttered with no additional words following.  You think to yourself, That’s it? That doesn’t help me.

Perhaps on occasion you have been the person responding above not knowing what to say.  You didn’t feel confident offering your thoughts. You’re not an expert or a published author. You still have trouble calling yourself a writer.

Well, “It’s good,” doesn’t say anything.  To a writer the phrase is too vague, too meaningless. He or she is seeking feedback more specific.

Whether asking for feedback or offering feedback, here are three steps to help readers share responses to a draft.

Before you start to read, let go of the pressure to catch every error or mistake. There is a difference between editing/proofreading and reader responses. Don’t be afraid. You are qualified to respond. You are an experienced reader, and writers need to know how their message is being received or interpreted. You are qualified to offer your reaction and thoughts to something you read.

Next, keep it simple. Keep it nice, and remember three things by ReadWriteThink.org:

PQP: Praise-Question-Polish.

Step 1: PRAISE.   Always find something positive to say about the piece you have been asked to read. Perhaps you like a particular phrase or word choice that lingers in your mind after reading, or you like how the writer describes a scene which easily forms in your mind’s eye. Always find something big or small to praise within the work.

question mark

Step 2: QUESTION.  As you read make notes of any questions that enter your mind. Maybe you wonder why the author doesn’t mention something you would expect to be included on the topic, or where the baby was in the scene when the mother went to the store. Any questions while reading can offer insight the author may need to improve or revise the current draft or work.

Step 3: POLISH.   Finally, offer specific ways you think the writer could polish the piece. These comments cannot be too vague. When you offer an idea to polish, the writer cannot be wondering what you mean. He or she needs a starting point or direction to act on your comment. Read-Write-Think suggests three types of comments: vague, general/useful, and specific. Below are examples of each:

Vague:  “Revise the second paragraph.” or “It’s good.”

Useful/general: “shiny engiveI don’t see enough background information or support for your idea.” or “Can you describe the kitchen scene better?”

Specific:  “I like how you give the points to remember, but can you add an example to help readers better understand what you mean?” or “The title doesn’t seem to convey the topic.”

If grammar and mechanics are your strengths, by all means offer comments and corrections. If you think something doesn’t look right, but you are not sure, you may suggest the writer double check a concern. The main thing about “Polish” is to give the writer a starting point or direction to consider changes.

Writers know what they intend to say in the message, but the receiver of the message does not always hear it as intended. If you are asked to offer quick feedback on a draft, just remember PQP. You can always find something positive to say, did you have any questions, and offer a specific comment the writer may consider to polish the piece.

You don’t have to be an expert or published author to provide helpful feedback to a writer. And as a writer, what you do with the feedback is entirely up to you. Some suggestions will spur new ideas, and some will lead to a dead end and remain left behind.  Nonetheless, diverse readers, diverse backgrounds, and diverse worldviews will encourage your message to be received differently. Stay focused on your message and meaning, use feedback to clarify and polish, then send your message out trusting the Holy Spirit to handle the rest.

[bctt tweet=”provide helpful feedback to a writer #writers #readers #polishing”]

[bctt tweet=”asking for feedback #writer #reader #drafts”]

Source acknowledged:  www.readwritethink.org,

ReadWriteThink.org is a nonprofit website maintained by the International Literacy Association and the National Council of Teachers of English, with support from the Verizon Foundation.”

Image Credits: Colin Harris, Dave Wilson   https://www.flickr.com/photos/

Categories
A Little Red Ink

Dialogue Tips

dialogue film crew

When you write dialogue, think like a screenwriter. Every minute of screen time, every word counts. Don’t add fluff. 

You don’t want readers to skim your conversations because nothing’s happening. If it doesn’t move the plot forward, cut it, cut it, cut it.

Here’s something else that doesn’t belong in your conversations: director commentary. 

Sure, people buy DVDs with bonus footage, but I don’t know many people who actually watch the version with the director chatting the whole time—explaining, telling what he wanted from the scene, making himself sound generally witty. (Peter Jackson doesn’t count. Of course you watch those.)

Seriously, though. Audiences want the end product. They want to be entertained. They want the scene to play out in their mind. And they don’t want to think for one second about the writer behind the scenes—at least the first time.

Here are a few dialogue tips to help you accomplish that.

1. Use the word “said.” Avoid sounding like a thesaurus with your dialogue tags.  No one wants to be wowed with your synonym skills. Statistics show that readers actually skip over the word “said” in their reading. It doesn’t even register. All they see is dialogue (which is what you want). 

If your characters are replying, interrupting, cajoling, remarking, and muttering? There’s no way people can miss that. 

     “Are you kidding me?” Jen queried. “Just tell me we can undo it,” she complained. “What will it take?” 

     “We’ll do what we have to do,” Will countered.

     “We better,” she sniped. “If we lose this account because you dropped the ball—”

     “Relax,” he challenged. “Your attitude isn’t going to help us win them over.”

It can get annoying after a while, right? 

vancouver
2. Use action beats about 50% of the time. An action beat is exactly that—a moment filled by the character’s action. When it’s right next to the dialogue, it’s clear who’s just spoken. Often, an action beat can do more to convey the emotion than an explanation, with no “said” involved. Isn’t that same excerpt better like this?
“Are you kidding me?” Jen snapped her head to the side. She swallowed, then turned back and locked gazes with Will. “Just tell me we can undo it. What will it take?”

 3. If the characters are taking turns nicely, don’t tag every give and take. Sometimes, it’s obvious. 

     Will stood a little taller. “We’ll do what we have to do.”

     “We better. If we lose this account because you dropped the ball—”

     “Relax. Your attitude isn’t going to help us win them over.”

     Jen rolled her neck and closed her eyes. After a few deep breaths, her shoulders relaxed an inch. She met his gaze once more. “I’ll smile, and you dig us out of this hole you got us in.”

Make sense? A little goes a long way.
Thanks to McBeth and Vancouver Film School for the images.
Categories
The Efficiency Addict

Write More: How Organizing Can Help

Write More: How Organizing Can Help
Image courtesy of adamr at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Looking to spend more time on your writing? A little organizing can help you write more.

Organized writers are

  • Less stressed. They know what work needs to be done and are able to prioritize its completion.
  • More productive. They move from one project to the next smoothly and efficiently.
  • Informed. They save information for their current and future projects and can retrieve it easily when it’s needed.
  • Opportunity finders. They know the areas where they excel and can search for openings in those markets.
  • Scalable. As requests for their writing grow, they can meet the increased need because of all the traits listed above.

You, too, can be an organized writer.

In this column, we’ll explore practical ways to handle the business details of writing so you can focus on your writing craft.

And let me assure you, there’s a huge difference between neatness and good organizing. Good organizing helps you achieve your goals. Neatness just looks pretty when company is coming. The key to good organizing is having systems that

  • are simple.
  • are easy for you to use.
  • save you time and stress.
  • free your mind and desk of clutter.
  • give you confidence that you know what needs to be done.

Being organized has another benefit few people recognize: it lets us be creative. It’s tough to open our minds to new ideas when we’re constantly being bombarded by all the things we need to do and information we need to remember. An effective system of work silences those nagging thoughts leaving your brain free to explore new possibilities or story lines.

Simplifying work and life—that’s my motto and it’s what we’re going to do here at The Efficiency Addict. To get started, visit this post on Simple and Easy Password Tracking.

Care to share?

[bctt tweet=”Write More: How Organizing Can Help. #Organized #AuthorsLife”]

[bctt tweet=”The Key to Good Organizing #Organized #AuthorsLife”]

Categories
Polishing Your Message

“Hi Their” – First Impressions

“Hi Their [sic]” were the two words I read. “Bye There!” was the instant reply in my head.

Really? Someone sent “Hi Their [sic]” popping onto my screen?

Only two words had travelled from his electronic dating profile to mine.  It took one second for them to occupy their chat box space, and it took two seconds for me to decide his fate.

Continue reading ““Hi Their” – First Impressions”
Categories
Editing

Be a Reader First

Read, Writer

One of the key ingredients you should look for when hiring an editor is a love of reading.

I don’t think there’s an editor who said, “I think I’ll become an editor because I hate to read.” If they did, then I wouldn’t recommend hiring them to assist you with your writing project. That would be like hiring a book burner to run the local library. It’d be a lost cause.

Before I decided to write or edit, I was an avid reader. I have been – ever since my babysitter read The Saggy Baggy Elephant and The Little Engine That Could over and over, to my delight.

By the time I was in kindergarten, Ramona Quimby was my favorite character. When I got hold of Judy Blume and met Fudge and Peter, I couldn’t put her books down. In high school, I loved Holden Caulfield’s discontent, I hated how Lenny killed everything he touched, and I grimaced with amazement as Ralph, Piggy, Simon, and Jack experienced unsupervised life on the island in Lord of the Flies. By then, I’d also discovered books I shouldn’t be reading, like Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series.

When I left college, Anne Rice and Lestat, I’d developed a relationship with Jesus. I then married and began having children, so my reading preferences switched to the world of non-fiction, mostly under the parenting and marriage topics.

Until Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, and Jacob Black showed up. I resisted the vampire, knowing that’s where I’d left my reading when I became a Christian. But when my Christian friends kept raving about the story, I decided to give it a shot. I’ve never read an entire series so quickly in my life. I’m a processer. A slow reader. I take in the details and go back to reread for clarity when I need to. I read all four books in the Twilight series in nine days. Bad writing. Good writing. Whatever. Stephenie Meyer immersed me in a vivid fictional dream.

Since then, Steven James has kept me dreaming through Patrick Bowers’ life. I’ve also enjoyed numerous books by DiAnn Mills and Lynette Eason, among others.

I read across genres. Suspense, Romance, Contemporary. Sci-fi, Fantasy, Dystopian. I love YA. And I still read non-fiction, but my topics have broadened.

Because if you’re going to be a writer, there’s so much to learn from reading others’ work. What works. What doesn’t. What you enjoy about each book. And what you hate about it. Which rules you can get away with breaking and when. As well as which rules should always be followed.

And as an editor, I’m a reader first. Always.

There have been countless times I’ve grabbed a self-published novel and known from page one I was going to be too distracted by the errors in spelling and punctuation to ever make it into the story itself. There have also been times I’ve wished I could edit the best-seller and offer suggestions for improvement. If you can’t pull me into a fictional dream within the first three chapters, it’s likely I won’t keep reading. And honestly, I should be engulfed by the end of the first page.

So, I’d like to invite you to join me in an adventure in editing through a reader’s eyes. Because I will always be a reader first.

In my column, The Critical Reader, we’ll take a look at a book each month, and I’ll share what I thought could be improved and what worked (in my humble opinion). My plan is to reveal tips for you and your writing through looking at the work of other authors. And I’ll try to mix it up a bit from genre-to-genre and between fiction and non-fiction.

Until then, here’s to reading!

[bctt tweet=”And as an editor, I’m a reader first. Always. #editor #editing” via=”no”]

 

Categories
The Efficiency Addict

Simple and Easy Password Tracking

Finding Your Passwords
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

In our techno-happy world, we frequently seek the latest gadgets or apps to make our lives easier. However, sometimes the best tools are items we already possess. We simply have to put them to work in a new way. Today we’re going look at an easy way to track your passwords with an old school device—The Address Book.

An address book is a wonderful tool for managing your passwords. It’s simple, inexpensive, and you can find one rather easily. However, before we move to the “how to” portion of this post, let’s tackle some frequently asked questions regarding this method:

Why wouldn’t I buy one of those password books they sell in the office supply stores?

  • They’re not alphabetical. If you have a lot of passwords, you may have to flip through the entire book before you find the one you need. That’s time wasted when you could be writing. Listing sites alphabetically is a huge benefit of using an address book as it helps you find entries quickly and easily.

Why wouldn’t I put my passwords in an electronic file or save it in an app?

  • Have you seen all the news articles about hackers lately? Everything from state tax returns to department store credit purchases have been attacked. Your safest place for a password is the one place a hacker can’t reach—the physical world.

Now, here’s how to put that address book to work:

  1. List your passwords by website name. Your Facebook password would be listed under F. Twitter would be T, and you can complete the rest.
  2. For each entry write:
    1. the website name
    2. your username or email (This is especially important if you maintain more than one email address.)
    3. your password
    4. any security question answers.
  3. ALWAYS write in pencil. At some point, you’ll have to change your password. If you write in pencil, you can just erase the old code and write a new one. This will keep your entries easy to read and make your password keeper last a long time.

Added Security Tip: If you’re concerned about someone reading your password book, put your passwords and security answers in code. A simple way to do this is to list part of the word and have the rest as dashes or Xs.

Example 1: If my answer to the security question of “Who is your favorite teacher?” is “Parker”, I could write P_ _ _ _ _. (P followed by 5 spaces.) As soon as I see the P, I’ll know which teacher I listed.

Example 2: If my password for Facebook is “zuLf12thirty”, I could write z _ L _ 12_ _ _ _ _ _. This is particularly helpful if you use a similar password for many sites but change a few letters in a specific pattern. If I see I’m using my zuL password, I know to change the letter after the capital L depending on the name of the website. For Facebook the letter becomes an f = zuLf12thirty. For Twitter the letter becomes a t – zuLt12thirty.

Final Tip: My favorite type of address book is one that’s meant for a 3-ring binder. If you don’t already have one, you can find them in the day planner section of most office supply stores. These come with A-Z tabs and blank address pages you can put in a notebook. This allows you to add pages when you need more room or remove a page if it’s gotten too messy and you want to start fresh.

Got this password thing covered? Good. Now get back to writing!

[bctt tweet=”Have you seen all the news articles about hackers lately? #writer #hacker” via=”no”]

[bctt tweet=”Put your passwords and security answers in code #writer @password” via=”no”]

Categories
A Little Red Ink

Character Motivation

Everybody wants something. Why do YOU want to write, for example?

Maybe you want to write a book for the story’s sake. A vociferous, misunderstood character started vying for your mental attention and enthralled you with his antics. He gets under your skin in all the right ways, and he’s an entertaining guy. You don’t want the world to miss out.

Maybe you like to challenge people. You’re on a metaphorical soapbox, and—rather than flat out preaching at the masses—allegory would be a better, wiser venue for your message. It’s time people question the status quo. Or act on their convictions. Your story will call them on that.

2D Joost

Or maybe you want to be rich and famous. You fancy yourself the next J.K. Rowling or Frank Peretti. (NOTE: If this is your motivation, you’re in the wrong field. There’s an easier road you should travel, somewhere.)

I know there are scads of other reasons people write. But the point is: something drives you.

Something’s got to drive your characters too.

Character motivation matters.

And I don’t mean only your main characters.  Would you want to watch a play—no matter the genre—where only the protagonist and the antagonist were played by humans? Everyone else was a cardboard cutout?

(NOTE: Even though there are no other humans pictured below, I am NOT saying The Doctor interacts with a bunch of emoticons-on-sticks. Far from it. I simply couldn’t resist using THESE particular cardboard cutouts when I spotted them.)

doctor cutout

Too often, I read books in which the cast may as well be made up of action figures. The MC wanders over near the smiling cut out when he needs encouragement and hangs out with the stereotypical thug when he feels dangerous. He can’t bum a cigarette, though, because there’s just the one. Permanently in Dude’s hand. You’d have to cut his hand off to get rid of that thing.

As Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. said,

every.

single.

character.

should want something—

even if all he wants is a glass of water.

Surround your main characters with a cast of characters who are also each desperate for something, determined to change something. To achieve something.

To defuse the bomb.

To hear their father say he’s proud of them.

To find the cure.

To get her to say Yes.

Give them motives and goals, and SHOW your readers what they’re after.

For truly multi-dimensional characters, give them motivations that might surprise the readers. Show a soft side or a deep-seated fear in the heart of the bad guy. Maybe you’ve got a selfless and thoughtful protag, but there’s one thing she absolutely cannot STAND. Show it to us.

[bctt tweet=”Surprise people. Add dimension to cardboard characters with motivation. #writing tips #ALittleRedInk”]

Okay, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Flat Out Love, by Jessica Park. If you’ve read this book, you know what I’m about to say. (If you haven’t…) There actually WAS a cardboard cut out character–an enthralling one, I might add–Flat Finn. Talk about a quirky cast, all flawed and winsome!

flat stanley

But what about other favorite books? Don’t you love reading a novel that makes you want a sequel—where your favorite minor character gets to play lead? Even if there’s NOT a sequel? I love dreaming about what could be.

How about Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? History, politics, culture, and languages were all so well-developed that there could have been shelves full of books penned. I’d have adored Eowyn and Faramir’s story. Or more about Samwise. He gets my vote for the true hero.

Serena Chase’s Eyes of E’veria series? During The Ryn and The Remedy (her reimagining of “Snow White and Rose Red”) I wanted more of Cazien the pirate. Got him. She wrote The Seahorse Legacy and The Sunken Realm (summer of 2015), a phenomenal, gripping retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”

Ronie Kendig’s Rapid Fire Fiction. This may be one of Ronie’s greatest areas of giftedness. She’s made me crave another SERIES. And then delivered. Twice.

Charity Tinnin’s Haunted. I empathized with the bad boy much more than I intended to, and his story is on the horizon. That’ll be an automatic pre-order for me.

Steven James’s Patrick Bowers Files. I loved every scene with Tessa or Ralph. I felt like I knew them.

Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. What about Angela? And I’d have loved a prequel about Brom.

All of these books left me wanting more. And got me to immediately follow the authors on Twitter and Facebook. Marketing genius, writers.

Writing genius.

Who is the most intriguing minor character YOU’VE read recently? What was it that got to you?

[bctt tweet=”What minor character makes you wish he’d gotten center stage? #amreading #amwriting”]

 

Thanks to Joost Assink, Richard Anderson, and Heather N. for the photos.

Portions of this content were previously posted at www.alittleredink.com