I spent this morning rewriting my prologue for What Luck. I think it's better now - I'll probably fine-tune it some more, but it's getting closer to the way I want it. Closer to fine, to borrow a phrase from the Indigo Girls.
I read the whole 15-page prologue at our WWG meeting last night. I don't really like reading aloud - it makes me feel breathless - but I'm getting used to it. I never realize how long a piece I've written is until I've read it out loud. Last night, my 15 pages seemed to take forever to read! But everyone liked it, and they all gave me great criticism and suggestions.
I have a flashback scene in the beginning of the prologue, and I was concerned about it being too long. It was almost 3 1/2 pages long, and seemed to break up the actual prologue scene too much. Everyone agreed that I could cut it, especially two long paragraphs of exposition. Too much telling, and not enough showing. So today, I cut out those two flashback paragraphs, and wrote the information into a dialogue between the two characters in the prologue, as Michelle suggested. It works much better.
Also, Lisa mentioned that some of the subject matter in the flashback might not be something that would interest 'tweens and young teens. I think some of it is important to the story, so now I've skimmed over it, rather than put the focus on it.
Rich said I should be careful with the vocabulary, and make sure it's age-appropriate, so I changed some of the longer, bigger words to words that are more simple and direct. He also suggested that I keep in mind the things that kids are most interested in. So I'm really trying to channel my inner 13-year-old as I'm writing this story.
There were several things they liked. Lisa said the beginning sentences drew her in, and she liked the vivid details. Rich said he loved the metaphors, and thought parts of it were funny. He said the writing was very natural. Michelle really liked where I placed the space breaks between scenes - she loves to leave readers hanging so they'll keep going. They all said my characters seemed real, and they liked the premise of the story. And they encouraged me to keep it up.
So I'm going to e-mail them the newest version, to see how they like the changes. I really like getting feedback from my peers - it helps me to be a better writer. Thanks, guys - I really appreciate your comments!
Everyone else is making progress, too. Rich finished his short story, and read it from the middle scenes to the end. Wow - some powerful stuff. He wants to rewrite it, and then submit it to the literary magazine market. I really think it's got a good shot at being published. Lisa has gone back to the novel she wrote and finished last November, for the National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo) project. She said the book is about 99,000 words - it amazes me that she can write so much in just one month, and this is the third NaNoWriMo novel she's written! And now she's going to rewrite it. She read the prologue to us - it's great. Very intriguing. Michelle said she's up to page 83 of her rewrite of her middle-grade children's book. She's determined to finish it in time for the SCBWI conference, and I know she'll do it. This book has so much potential, and I hope she can meet the right people who will read it, and give it a chance.
Tomorrow, Michelle and I are going to attend the monthly SCBWI meeting at the b.s. Every time they've met, I've haven't been able to sit in on the meetings, because I've had to work. But I'm still on vacation, so now I'll be able to go. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll write about the meeting in my next post.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Progress, At Last!
I just finished rewriting the 14-page prologue of What Luck. I've been working on it for the past three days, and I'm finally satisfied with it. I feel like I'm making some progress on this book, at last!
I'm going to bring it to the WWG meeting tomorrow night at Michelle's, and read it to her, Lisa, and Rich. I hope they'll like it and will give me some constructive feedback. If they have some good suggestions, I'll rewrite it to make it even better. I'm good at rewriting - too good. I always seem to get stuck in the rewriting phase of a project, and never get around to finishing it. But I feel like I'm on a roll with What Luck, and I'm motivated to finish it.
I plan on sending the prologue in for the SCBWI conference critique. I've had very helpful critiques before (of other projects) at the last two conferences, so I'm really looking forward to this one. It's such an honor to have a professional novelist look at my work, and give advice on how to write it better. I've learned some important things each time. There are several writers and editors on the faculty this year, who have experience and expertise in teen and young adult books. So I hope I'll get a chance to have one of them look at my work.
The main reason I've been so productive with writing over the past three days is that I'm on vacation this week from the b.s. It's such a luxury to have all this time to myself, to focus on writing, and not have to worry about other obligations. I have four days left, so I also plan to finish Chapter 1. But even after I'm back to work, I need to keep this momentum going, and find enough free time to devote to writing, so I can keep making progress. I'm committed to this, so I'll find a way. I want to see the finished pages piling up, until I've reached the finish line.
I'm going to bring it to the WWG meeting tomorrow night at Michelle's, and read it to her, Lisa, and Rich. I hope they'll like it and will give me some constructive feedback. If they have some good suggestions, I'll rewrite it to make it even better. I'm good at rewriting - too good. I always seem to get stuck in the rewriting phase of a project, and never get around to finishing it. But I feel like I'm on a roll with What Luck, and I'm motivated to finish it.
I plan on sending the prologue in for the SCBWI conference critique. I've had very helpful critiques before (of other projects) at the last two conferences, so I'm really looking forward to this one. It's such an honor to have a professional novelist look at my work, and give advice on how to write it better. I've learned some important things each time. There are several writers and editors on the faculty this year, who have experience and expertise in teen and young adult books. So I hope I'll get a chance to have one of them look at my work.
The main reason I've been so productive with writing over the past three days is that I'm on vacation this week from the b.s. It's such a luxury to have all this time to myself, to focus on writing, and not have to worry about other obligations. I have four days left, so I also plan to finish Chapter 1. But even after I'm back to work, I need to keep this momentum going, and find enough free time to devote to writing, so I can keep making progress. I'm committed to this, so I'll find a way. I want to see the finished pages piling up, until I've reached the finish line.
Friday, March 16, 2007
A Writing Quandary / Solution
It's been another long time between posts, but I reached another sticking point in my current writing project, What Luck. And I tried to work it all out in my head, instead of on paper or in this blog. I always seem to do this to my writing - things are going along pretty well, and then I get to a potential problem, and I feel stuck. It's like some kind of self-sabatoge - there always seems to be something that keeps me from finishing a project. But I'm determined to finish What Luck, so I tried to tackle this problem head-on, and get past it, so I can keep writing. And I think I found a solution.
The problem is the age of my main character. I wanted to write the story for older teens, so I thought the girl's age would be around 16. But as I've been trying to write What Luck, it just wasn't working. As the character developed, she just didn't seem to be a realistic 16-year-old, in the context of the story. It became clearer to me that the main character's interests and concerns are more like those of a younger adolescent, around 13 or 14. Then the story makes much more sense. But I realized if I change her age, it changes the entire book, as well as the target audience - the readership would be much younger than older teens. I really want to write edgy, mature-themed books for older teens and college-age readers, but I can see now that
What Luck isn't going to be one of them. I need to just write the story out, and let it and the characters emerge naturally. And it will be the story that it's meant to be.
So I re-wrote the beginning of the Prologue, and read it at the WWG meeting last night. They hadn't heard the earlier version, because I've been grappling with it since our last meeting, but I told them about my writing quandary. But after I read, Michelle, Lisa and Rich all agreed that it seems realistic that it's a 13-year-old girl telling the story. And Rich said it's the most relaxed writing he's heard from me. I guess that's because I decided to get myself out of the way of the story, and just write it as I feel it's meant to be. And reading it aloud and getting positive feedback confirmed that changing the character's age is right for this story. Thanks for your help with this problem, guys, and for helping me get back on track!
I enjoyed hearing everyone's writing last night, as always. Lisa finished reading a long speculative fiction short story - I love her imagination and her ability to ground her preternatural ideas in realistic characters, settings, and details. She said it breaks all the rules for the speculative short story market - it's too long, and in first-person present tense - but it's so good, and I hope some editor is astute enough to take a chance on it. Rich read part of a new short story - more beautiful, spare language, realistic characters and a topical subject. It's excellent - I can't wait to hear the rest of it next time. I've really missed hearing his writing, and I'm so glad he's back. We all are. Michelle read a fun story she wrote for one of the "Write-Brain Workbook" exercises. It was good, with a great sense of humor and observation - I think she could expand it into a longer work, if she wants to. She's been focused on re-writing her middle-grade novel, Blackboard, for the SCBWI conference that we're attending in June. I sent in my registration yesterday afternoon - I'm really looking forward to it. I also printed out the registration form and information and gave it to Michelle last night. I hope that the conference will work out well for both of us. I have a feeling it will. Now I just have to keep up with writing What Luck, until I reach its finish line.
The problem is the age of my main character. I wanted to write the story for older teens, so I thought the girl's age would be around 16. But as I've been trying to write What Luck, it just wasn't working. As the character developed, she just didn't seem to be a realistic 16-year-old, in the context of the story. It became clearer to me that the main character's interests and concerns are more like those of a younger adolescent, around 13 or 14. Then the story makes much more sense. But I realized if I change her age, it changes the entire book, as well as the target audience - the readership would be much younger than older teens. I really want to write edgy, mature-themed books for older teens and college-age readers, but I can see now that
What Luck isn't going to be one of them. I need to just write the story out, and let it and the characters emerge naturally. And it will be the story that it's meant to be.
So I re-wrote the beginning of the Prologue, and read it at the WWG meeting last night. They hadn't heard the earlier version, because I've been grappling with it since our last meeting, but I told them about my writing quandary. But after I read, Michelle, Lisa and Rich all agreed that it seems realistic that it's a 13-year-old girl telling the story. And Rich said it's the most relaxed writing he's heard from me. I guess that's because I decided to get myself out of the way of the story, and just write it as I feel it's meant to be. And reading it aloud and getting positive feedback confirmed that changing the character's age is right for this story. Thanks for your help with this problem, guys, and for helping me get back on track!
I enjoyed hearing everyone's writing last night, as always. Lisa finished reading a long speculative fiction short story - I love her imagination and her ability to ground her preternatural ideas in realistic characters, settings, and details. She said it breaks all the rules for the speculative short story market - it's too long, and in first-person present tense - but it's so good, and I hope some editor is astute enough to take a chance on it. Rich read part of a new short story - more beautiful, spare language, realistic characters and a topical subject. It's excellent - I can't wait to hear the rest of it next time. I've really missed hearing his writing, and I'm so glad he's back. We all are. Michelle read a fun story she wrote for one of the "Write-Brain Workbook" exercises. It was good, with a great sense of humor and observation - I think she could expand it into a longer work, if she wants to. She's been focused on re-writing her middle-grade novel, Blackboard, for the SCBWI conference that we're attending in June. I sent in my registration yesterday afternoon - I'm really looking forward to it. I also printed out the registration form and information and gave it to Michelle last night. I hope that the conference will work out well for both of us. I have a feeling it will. Now I just have to keep up with writing What Luck, until I reach its finish line.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Welcome Back, Rich!
Tonight Rich came over to our Wildwood Writing Group (W.W.G.) meeting. He had been one of the original "members" of our group, but hasn't been able to make it for several months. It was soooo good to see him!
Rich is one of my favorite people. I met him about 7 years ago, when he worked at the b.s. during his summer and winter breaks from college. He's now got a degree in creative writing, and works for the b.s. as a community relations manager, at a different, but still local, location. He's a vastly talented writer - he writes beautifully minimalistic stories, similar to the short story writer Amy Hempel. Whenever I've read one of his stories, I've been struck by the skillful way he handles complex characters and often difficult topics, in a short amount of space - sometimes just a few pages. I still think about details and phrases from his stories that I read years ago. Reading or hearing his work inspires me to be a better writer.
He also writes and plays music, and does artwork - I admire (and sometimes envy) his widespread talents!
He's been a good friend, and has always encouraged me in my writing. He gives constructive, thoughtful criticism and caring support to all of us in W.W.G. We've missed him, and so we welcomed him back with much excitement!
Tonight was fun, rather than productive. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up with Rich, and discussing where we're at with our various writing projects, and what books we've read that have inspired us lately. We also celebrated Lisa's upcoming birthday with cake and gifts.
Rich plans to come to our next meeting in two weeks, so we gave him our current writing prompt, derived from the Story Spinner. Our challenge is to use the words: horoscope, echo, and password; the setting: in a bedroom; and the beginning phrase: Birthdays are... in a story. I've been thinking about it a lot, and realized I can use this prompt to write a scene from "What Luck." I've started working on it, and hope to have it polished enough to read in two weeks. I hope to get some good feedback from everyone, especially Rich. He hasn't heard anything from this new book project, so I'm interested to hear what he thinks about it.
Rich's presence tonight made W.W.G. feel complete again. Welcome back, Rich!!
Rich is one of my favorite people. I met him about 7 years ago, when he worked at the b.s. during his summer and winter breaks from college. He's now got a degree in creative writing, and works for the b.s. as a community relations manager, at a different, but still local, location. He's a vastly talented writer - he writes beautifully minimalistic stories, similar to the short story writer Amy Hempel. Whenever I've read one of his stories, I've been struck by the skillful way he handles complex characters and often difficult topics, in a short amount of space - sometimes just a few pages. I still think about details and phrases from his stories that I read years ago. Reading or hearing his work inspires me to be a better writer.
He also writes and plays music, and does artwork - I admire (and sometimes envy) his widespread talents!
He's been a good friend, and has always encouraged me in my writing. He gives constructive, thoughtful criticism and caring support to all of us in W.W.G. We've missed him, and so we welcomed him back with much excitement!
Tonight was fun, rather than productive. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up with Rich, and discussing where we're at with our various writing projects, and what books we've read that have inspired us lately. We also celebrated Lisa's upcoming birthday with cake and gifts.
Rich plans to come to our next meeting in two weeks, so we gave him our current writing prompt, derived from the Story Spinner. Our challenge is to use the words: horoscope, echo, and password; the setting: in a bedroom; and the beginning phrase: Birthdays are... in a story. I've been thinking about it a lot, and realized I can use this prompt to write a scene from "What Luck." I've started working on it, and hope to have it polished enough to read in two weeks. I hope to get some good feedback from everyone, especially Rich. He hasn't heard anything from this new book project, so I'm interested to hear what he thinks about it.
Rich's presence tonight made W.W.G. feel complete again. Welcome back, Rich!!
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