Complacency in Our Writing

Good morning. As you all know I've stopped writing for awhile. Last year's writing/publishing frenzy has left me blocked, which may or may not be a good thing. We'll see how it goes.

But, because I haven't been writing, my brain has been left to rattle around in my cranium with nothing to focus on, so it wanders to and fro in its own little world. Last week, I happened to find an old book I had lying around that I hadn't read. Mind you, it was published in 2009, so it wasn't that old, but still.

(Funny how it takes New York almost 18 months to publish something, and then in 6 months it's already in the Dollar Store.)

Anyway, as I read this book, my little brain kept urging me to throw it across the room. It was an historical romance, by a very famous New York published writer. And I had read almost everything she's ever written, so I was dismayed when I got to the end and realized I SHOULD have thrown it across the room. (It ended up in the yard sale.)

I wondered then, why on God's good green earth, would her agent, editor, publisher, BFF, and mother, allow her to publish something that was just so ... dare I say it .... bleh. Not to mention her own self.

I mean, really. Where is her pride? Her intergrity to stand behind her work?

Don't get me wrong, I've had reviewers harangue me for my plot lines and characters, and some of my word choices, but I stand behind everything I've ever written. I think what I write is special, it's not your same every-day-run-of-the-mill historical romance. I don't write sex, but I insert the historical facts as accurately as I can get them and I think that makes up for the lack of voyeurism.

I make sure I trim my adjectives, keep my plot moving forward, don't keep repeating the same things every 5 pages. Readers, I have come to find, aren't stupid. They wouldn't read if they couldn't follow the plot. But jeez, this New York writer broke every single "bad" writing rule in the proverbial book by my standards. What's up with that?

When did these New York pubbed romance writers get so complacent? Is it because they know whatever they write will hit the best seller list? Or is it because their publisher doesn't care what they come up with and they know they'll sell 200,000 copies in those 6 months anyway?

However, one thing, I do know, I will not be complacent. I will always strive to have the best plot, characters, and story-line out there. I really don't want people throwing my book across the room.

Tell me -- Are you afraid of being complacent? What do you do to combat that? How do you define complacency in writing?

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

Good morning. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures I posted of my characters for REMEMBERING YOU. It was exciting to find them all. Finally.

I've been working steadily on editing and revising the first act.

I've also added two more scenes and 3000 more words so I'm a little over 42K now. Halfway there. One month to go.

I also got another request for MASQUERADE, and for those of you who answered my pdf question, I had to go with the download, my computer didn't have the convert button. So thanks, Stacy, for that info.

Fun stuff, this writing business. I learn something new every day.

What did you learn this week??

Lovely Jayne Ferst is having a spectacular contest until August 8 on sending out her first query. Go here to check out the prizes! Cool Agatha Christie!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Edit Babbling

I've edited the first Act. I felt I needed to do that before I even started on the fight scene. I also found I need to add another scene sometime in the first Thursday/Friday area because there's no mention of how Genna feels after her lacivious behaviour with Tony. So how could she know what to do with Pete, if she hasn't said what she's going to do with Tony?

I've also broken down the chapters into days. Some days are shorter than others, some days are really long. Like Tuesday for example, the day she arrives. There are 3 scenes which add up to almost 30 pages, but I do have my little ****** breaks in there. I have to see what it looks like when it's all done. I really don't want to have chapters per se, I like the idea of days, as this novel is only 21 days out of Genna's life. I may break the scenes into chapters like this "Tuesday 23 June Morning" "Tuesday 23 June Afternoon" "Tuesday 23 June Evening" I don't know though. I have to see how it looks.

I also put the sex where it naturally should go and had to rewrite most of the rest of the act. Once I get Genna's reaction to the sex, then I need to move the conversation she has with Tony on Saturday night, out of where it is because that would lend so much more credibility to the conversation she has with Angie in the second act. If I put it on Thursday or Friday, it would work because...
I've also had second thoughts about the party at the bar. It really doesn't move the story forward, it's mainly filler but was the lead up to Tony's confession. I'll have to see what I can do to make it better. If I move the conversation maybe I can have Tony to show up anyway and cause all kinds of other problems. hee hee Am I brilliant or what?

I've also changed Genna's reason for coming home. I can't tell you what it is but it adds a whole other dimension to her angst. Yay me! It blends right into the story arc perfectly and I think will make her torment at the end so much greater.

I've also had second thoughts about the flashback scene. I may move that to the prologue but as you know prologues are dead, but then again so are flashbacks. But it really needs to be in there. Somewhere. It would really work as the prologue (Well, I would call it "chapter one") and it would really set the basis for the whole book, HOWEVER it would screw up the flashback. Decisions decisions.

I'm hoping to get to Act 2 this week. It's going to be harder because I've changed so many things around, reasons and actions of secondary characters that cause Genna to react differently. But I also want to finish up Act One before I start anything on Act Two. I found a few 'holes' that need to be fixed, which could be easy as everyone goes on vacation the first two weeks in July in Rhode Island so it might be easier than I expect. We'll see.

So there is my edit babbling. I know it doesn't make any sense to you but at least it's written down and I can be held accountable now. If I can finish all the editing/revising before the end of the week I'll be good to go to finish the book by the end of August. Then comes the fun part. Beta Reader anyone?

And just so you know, I found a woman on the blogs who wrote 46,000 words in 20 days. She had an idea for a story a month ago. She put it on her blog. She just posted yesterday she's halfway through. And it's not YA. And it's not Natalie.

I also finished another craft book I picked up two weeks ago.

EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss. Is a wild ride on the puncuation trip. I love her quirky British humour and now I understand why I have to write words like humor with a 'u'. I guess I'm secretly a Brit at heart. If you get a chance, read this book. It's not Strunk & White by any means but it does what it's supposed to do. Teach about the dreaded puncuation...lol.

And don't forget to stop by Wednesday for my character pics for REMEMBERING YOU.

Have a great Monday!!!

Friday's at the Piedmont Grille

And here it is once again, the lovely ending to a lovely week.

I've been working steadily on Genna & Tony this week. I've written a few more scenes. I had an amazing breakthrough and have just been going nuts. (Wait until you see what happens! Holy Crap sometimes I think I'm brilliant!) I'm also going to go back to the beginning and edit because I think it needs to be done before I write the big fight scene between Pete and Tony. Yep, you heard me, Pete and Tony will engage in fisticuffs outside Billy's Beach Bar the night of 4th of July. Oh what fun!

I also wanted to say, that I do apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings when I said I didn't think 2000 words a day was much for me. I don't mean to disparage anyone and how they write or what their word count is. For most of the summer I haven't written anything. So shame on me. If I had, I could have finished the book by now. I tend to write in scenes and can't stop until it's finished. That's why my word count is usually in the 2k arena. We all write differently and if I've made anyone feel less than, I am profoundly sorry.

Also, for those of you who are Jane Austen fans, I found this book THE THIRD SISTER by Julia Barret about Margaret Dashwood. I don't normally do book reviews or recommend anything other than writing craft books but I found this book to be so well conceived, and so authentically Austen-ish in its prose that I had to tout its glory. Margaret, as you all know, is the youngest of the three Dashwood sisters and has only minimal appearance in the book and movie. This story is just so delightful and tells so much about her life and what it was like to indeed, be the third sister, I couldn't put it down. Now, this also reads like Austen, which is heavy handed, and hard to get through, fighting all the language barriers, but well worth it if you ever wanted to know what happened to Margaret. Just a quick passage --

Could a circumstance prove more blissful for any mother? Not only had she seen her youngest escape the perfidy that threatened, but now this: the darling girl was ardently sought and won by her own preserver! In all of Devonshire, there might be encountered a no more complacent lady.

Huh? If I didn't know what had previously happened, I would have thought her new found beau was a jar of jam. Preserver indeed!

But oh happiness yesterday as I went shopping at the big Red Circle store with Monster Baby. I found a BBC/Masterpiece Classic DVD of Persuasion for $5-. I must confess I was giddy when I reverently took it out of its case and sat in rapture for 90 minutes (minus the constant interuption from MB and the feeding of the dogs). I will get to it again tonight. There is nothing like Jane Austen on film.

Summer is holding a contest for finishing her WIP. Go check it out.

Suzi McGowen had the most billiant idea about promoting books the other day. You must go now and read it. I think we could start a whole new trend.

And the best news of all!!! I have finally found pictures for all my characters in REMEMBERING YOU. the Genna & Tony story. I will post these next Wednesday in lieu of my regular something-something post. I am so excited and I hope you all stop by to see who will be playing them. I hope and pray my devoted fans will not be disappointed in my choices in Tony and Pete. As for Uncle Sally and Aunt Fortuna, you will be pleasantly surprised I think.

And so, that is my news for the week. If you haven't scrolled down to last Sunday's awards post to see if you're there, please do so. I'd hate for you to miss it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I'll see you all on Monday! Get some writing done.

Editing

Well, gentle readers, as you know, I cut 7000 words. I still feel I need to let go of maybe 2000 more but I have no more that's, just's, but's, or-ly's. I got rid of all of that. I don't have scenes to cut, per se, just words and phrases now.

After I finished with the big cuts on Saturday, I went back and started on the line edits again on Sunday. You know how I hate being stupid, well guess what, I'm not sure if I was still reading a first draft or not. In some places I read things and said, "Who wrote this, not me, I'm not that stupid." Well guess what, after three rounds of major revisions and two line edits, yeah, I am because he didn't crawl through the tunnel, he crawled threw the tunnel. I hate that. I really do. There's no excuse for it other than a bad hangover and I haven't had a drink in over 6 years.

But I have to say, the editing wasn't that hard. Well, sort of. I couldn't focus on the story, I had to skim it and go scene by scene, something I don't normally look at because I'm a panster and don't write in scenes. I write in places, ie., they were in the kitchen, the garden, the coach, the hide-out. Which in my infitismally small brain, those are scenes, I just never viewed them like that before. (I was over at the Lit Lab reading all the 'Story idea' posts last week and my head is still spinning.) I guess if I pay attention enough to what other people say and do, I might learn something.

So, as I skim read, I looked at the scenes and if one didn't have plot, character or motivation in it, I cut it. Just like that. I got rid of some good stuff too. Ellis, and Madame Beaumond, some of Will's backstory, most of the epilogue. It's tighter now, more streamlined. I like it. I even wrote some other things in, little things that make it more readable. so....

More line edits today although my ass is groaning, and it will be 60 degrees outside so...maybe, maybe not.

I also sent my query out to have a round of critiques. I've got some new names to e-mail but I'm also going to snail mail a few agents as well. I've got two I would really love to have, so hopefully I won't get rejected out-right this time. I've got the right word count, good query (I hope) the 'newbie dust' has worn off a little bit more, I'm not that 'green' (I hope), so maybe I can pull a rabbit out of my hat and get this book sold. My horoscope says something big is going to happen in the next few months so...we can only pray.

I'd also like to say Thank You to Dr. Martin Luther King. If it wasn't for him, well, we wouldn't be here, like this. His dream allowed all of us to become equal. And I mean all of us.

Editing Revisited

For those of you who liked my post today on the difference between editing and revising you should take a look at my other post from December 12, "Editing" and read the comments also. I think I've explained it in a much wider scope there.

Thanks.

Clearing Up

We were discussing revisions and editing the other day and I think I need to clear something up. I do revisions on my own work. I cut and move, and throw away and re-write when I'm doing revisions. I look for the problems.

When I edit, I'm editing some one else's work. And usually that is a WIP that is almost ready to query. It's pretty much polished. I read along until I find, what I like to call a "grey area" that I think the author should take another look at. I let that person know what it is that I've found and it is up to them to take my suggestion or not.

I do not edit my own work and couldn't even if I wanted to. After writing it and then re-reading it 600 times through revisions, I totally hate it and never want to see it again. I always ask someone else to edit it. They can always find the double and's and blatant tpyo's that I've missed 831 times.

That's all I wanted to say.

Okay, I'm done here for the day. The Small One's school Christmas Party is this morning at 10. Woo-hoo what fun! Someone should outlaw cupcakes at this time of year. Especially at 10:30 in the morning.

Editing

A very good friend has asked me for my help in looking over her current WIP. Let me tell you how thrilled I am. I'm not really editing because I don't claim to be that smart. But I am thrilled that she would trust me enough to help her.

The things I have told her are only suggestions which I think is the key to really good editing. No one can do justice to your work but you. You, as the writer, are the only one who has the key to what's in your characters heads. You are the only one who knows their motivations. My job, I think, is to help you find what's missing.

I gave her some suggestions which she liked. And then I re-read what someone else said about her work and tried to find, to suggest, what could be better. What HE actually meant. And I don't have a clue because I'm not him but I sort of think I figured it out.

Editing is different than revisions, for me anyway. When I'm in revisions I look for trouble spots, I look for things to take out, I look for what doesn't work. In editing, I'm not actively looking. I'm enjoying the read until I FIND something that doesn't work, that doesn't make sense, that could be a little bit tighter.

Perhaps then revisons are active and editing is passive. I don't know. It's just my own humble opinion.

What do you think?