Lighting A Fire

My wonderful critique partner, Ryan Graudin, saw the launch of her debut novel, All That Glows, this past week! (It is so very good! Get yourself a copy.)

While I wasn't able to head down South to party with her, I of course rushed out to buy a freshly minted copy (or two).

I wanted to buy all the available copies, but figured
that would make me greedy.

This long-anticipated event has filled me with pride and warmth and all the good feelings. It has also lit a hot, hot fire under my posterior to finish my current WIP and get it out into the world. Anyone who's allowed me to chatter in their ear about my writing knows that finishing this WIP has been one of my biggest challenges in the past (wow, almost two) years. I wrote the first 65,000 words in four months - a new record for me - and then two jobs started happening, and moves and trips and crazy deadlines, and I started having to get up at 5AM just to carve out that little bit of extra time. It's been a molasses-slow crawl, even at the best of times.

It's not because I don't love this novel. In fact, I love this novel more than anything else I've ever written. It's the number of hours in a day. It's how cold it is at 5AM.

But I can feel that fire under me, burning away at my writerly skin. I'm so, so close to being finished.
So I am making a proclamation.

I am 78,392 words into this novel. I have entered the portion of the story that I like to call the Everything Explodes period, where everything comes to a rather startling head. I am ALMOST THERE. And so, I have decided that I absolutely, positively must finish this book by my brother's birthday: March 15th. I started this book in the spring, it is set in the spring, and it will be finished before the first breath of spring.

And with that, I give you some writer's quotes I enjoy quite a lot.

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

- Jack Kerouac

"Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page." - Margaret Atwood

"The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." - Neil Gaiman

"Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones ­until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you'll get is silence." - Al Kennedy

Photo Collection: Playing with Shadows

A few days ago, I walked through the woods on one of those rare winter afternoons where the sun is actually out and your soul starts to peek out from behind its woolen blanket. I found myself thinking about my writing, as I often do: about how stories need both light and dark--points of contrast and contradiction, of both soft lines and sharp edges--in order to capture my full attention. I don't know that I came to any conclusions about how to make that happen in my own story, but I did end up with some pretty pictures.

The Power of Simplicity

As I round the 60,000 word mark in my WIP, things are starting to get complicated. I am trying to weave several different threads together, and to make sure they all make sense side by side. There's pacing to consider, and whether my characters are still humming along on the right track. I worry about this, sometimes, because it's easy to overcomplicate stories. You think you need to add in rather than take out; to add in more drama and more monsters, or else you'll lose people's attention. That's the stuff that keeps readers reading, right?

Except then I see a book trailer like this one, reminding me that evocative storytelling doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes it's more powerful when it's not.



You don't know what this story is about, right? All you know is that this kid who likes music is having a hard time, and that he's trying to find ways to deal with it. No words are spoken, no secondary characters introduced. There is only this kid with a bloody nose walking off with an axe...and I really want to know what he's going to do with it. Don't you?

Currently Writing To: "White Blank Page" by Mumford & Sons

It's A (half) Marathon - Not A Sprint.

You know when you try to get things done and, without fail or exception, they don't seem to work the way you want them to? That's been today.

I'm a bit of a mastodon with my To Do lists - I exist under the belief that if you stomp and chomp away at something, it'll eventually get done well. Today I ploughed 1,000 words into a difficult scene in my WIP only to realize I'd come at it from the wrong angle. Knowing this made me cranky, because it meant having to rewrite a huge chunk of work I'd already done. So I stepped away from it and up to another project. I wanted to paint an old steamer trunk of mine so I got the paint, broke out the sander, and got things underway. It only took an hour to realize I'd gone about the trunk all wrong, too - wrong method, wrong supplies. I have to start over. I even tried to wash the dog with...well, similar results (he's fine, but peppermint bath wash is not his favorite).

I don't like this at all. It's enough to make me want to put on sweatpants and call it a day. Still, there's something to be said for going about something the wrong way. Sometimes you have to go the wrong way to realize what the 'right way' is. Plus, it makes me remember the importance of patience - a skill I'm constantly relearning.

Speaking of which, I ran my first half marathon last weekend. My goal wasn't to run super fast; my goal was, quite honestly, to run the whole time and finish without breaking anything. And, by some minor miracle, I did. In my training I'd only run about eight miles - nowhere near the 13.1 I had to do on race day. I was worried, but it all worked out fine. In the midst of miles ten and eleven (because I'm obsessive like this), I found myself thinking about my writing. Doing something creative - doing anything worthwhile, really - can feel a lot like running a marathon. There are moments when you hit your stride and everything clicks into place, but there are also those miles when you know - you just know - you can't go any further. You were crazy to think you could. But most of the time, you really can. You're just tired and have lost your focus.

I've found that if you keep putting one foot in front of the other and focus on being present - not focused on two miles ago, or one mile ahead, but right in this present place - you'll be surprised what you can accomplish. I always am.

Currently writing to: In My Veins - Andrew Belle

What Rough Drafting Looks Like

I'm halfway through the rough draft of my third novel. First drafts are a strange and special animal that seem to roll out differently for everyone. Some people love drafting; some people hate it. As for me, I keep waiting for the whole process to become easier and more streamlined. To stop making me feel like a self-indulgent crazy person who talks through plot problems while stuck alone in traffic. I think to myself, "I've done this a few times. So, clearly, I have learnt my lessons. I will know my ending in advance. All of my characters will behave and be nice to me."

Every book has been a different experience, but I'm finding that my drafting process has developed a predictable pattern. Let me illustrate.

0 - 10,000 words: 

My characters are vivid and interesting. Everything I write is vivid and interesting. I can't wait to see where this story is going! And this novel writing thing?...pure magic.

10,000 - 35,000 words:

I can kind of see where this story is headed, but I have no idea how I'm getting there. That end point seems really, really far away. My characters are being tempestuous. I was a fool to think I could make a novel out of this crazy premise. It's hot out here. I'm thirsty. I'm going to send this to my critique partners so they can tell me if it's awful. This novel writing thing?...the hardest.

35,000 - 55,000:

I understand my characters now; they're starting to tell me when I've got them wrong. In fact, they're keeping me up at night trying to dictate their stories. All of these plot possibilities seem worth exploring, but I'm angsting over which ones are the right ones. Let's go left!:

...maybe I shouldn't have taken a left...maybe I shouldn't have written this, period...

...wait, this is nice, but I think the creepy woods were more interesting...

...and here we are again. I remind myself that my crit partners assured me that this story isn't awful. I force loving friends to read pages and promise me that isn't awful. 

55,000 - 75,000:

So this isn't awful; I'm liking this. I know where I'm going! My characters are starting to make big decisions as they stumble towards the finish line. My plot is revealing new twists. Or maybe they're not new: hey, look, I planted the seeds for them in chapter three! This is scary! This is exciting! Someone pass me my oxygen tank!

75,000 - 80,000:

I'm in love with this story. I hope others will also be in love with this story. In a few weeks, I'll probably reread this draft and moan about how much work it needs but right now, for me, it is perfect. 

 Five minutes after typing THE END:

Current Writing Soundtrack: "Stubborn Love" by The Lumineers

Author Thoughts from a Figment live chat

I participated in my first "live chat" the other night. It was like sneaking a peek at somebody's Gchat (although apparently 500 other people were doing it, so I guess I'm not that big a creep). The chat, run by This Is Teen and Figment, went down between two of my very favorite authors: Maggie Stiefvater and Lucy Christopher. It was supposed to be about voice, but their answers spanned a whole range of writerly topics that had me taking avid notes. 

On Character:

- You don't always have to know how the story ends, but you should know the end of the characters' emotional arc. In other words, what do they learn? Everything that happens to a character in the story leads to the realization they come to by the end.

- It's OK to steal people. (I liked this one...because I'm constantly stealing sayings and nervous gestures from people from strange and familiar). Keep writing fresh by watching how people react to things; their speech patterns and movements; their turns of phrase.

- Read out loud to see how a character's voice is shaping up; it's great for objectivity and for 'hearing' what isn't working for your characters.

- The most important thing is that your character be consistent and believable and true to themselves...

- I think it comes back to being true to the individual you're writing. You don't ask "would a teen say this?" you ask "would my character say this?"

- Ask yourself: who is it that your character projects? Who are they really on the inside? You need to know the 'why' when you're the author. WHY are your characters acting the way they do? Don't worry about the physical things like eye color and hair length...worry about motivation, what propels them.

- Reading out loud helps you to know if you're being yourself, or if you're being your character.

Quotables:

From Maggie: "...the key to true storytelling is to be specific". You can find a character's 'truth' when their reactions become predictable, and you know what it is that drives them

LC: "I write stories about places I want to explore / think about more / have issues with / have an interesting cultural resonance."

MS: "Absolutely. A setting is like a character where you have to ask yourself, why are things that way HERE. Not anywhere else, but HERE."

MS: "So if there is something peculiar and interesting about you, something cool you've done, that is what you should mine for your novels."

MG: "In my head, the story already exists, and my job is to dust carefully away until I find it beneath all the silt. And if I smash too hard and impose my will and bust past writer's block without thinking about what is really stopping me from writing, I'll smash off the statue's arm. So I need to go carefully and trust my gut, and when they are right, I can FEEL it. I see it right there. The story I always meant to write."

MS: "If you know how a character is going to react, you know what they're going to say."

It was a fantastic chat, and well worth sipping wine through. If you want to replay it in all its glory. go here! 

Why Critique Partners Are A Writer's Best Friend

Two years ago today, I got an email from a stranger. She'd seen my 'Want Post' for a critique partner and was hoping we could swap some pages.

I was nervous. Trying to find a critique partner is a lot like blind dating: you swap pages, edit each other's work, and then wait nervously to see if your writing, and your crit style, mesh. And like first dates, this process seemed to involve more awkwardness for me than connection. I wasn't willing to settle for anything less than what I wanted: honesty, experience, support and editorial brutality (when necessary). By the time I received this email, I'd already swapped pages with several people, all of whom were lovely but none of whom where the 'one'. I was starting to despair a little. But Ryan sent back my pages ripped to shreds and hanging in revelatory tatters. I fell in critique partner love. Luckily she felt the same way.

So we corresponded through the interwebs, picking at each other's work with deft, savage fingers. We decided to try and find another crit partner to provide a little balance and were lucky to find Emma, who fit right into our tiny clan. I didn't always love the critique--it always meant gutting something I loved or doing work I thought was behind me. But, consistently and irrevocably, these two fantastic writers made my story better. The process of working with them and reading their work made me a better writer. They taught me how to see criticism as a blessing, not a curse.

In November 2011, I went down to Charleston and met Ryan (whose debut novel is set to be published in 2013!) in the flesh. We sat across from each other at an awesome cafe, typing away, and it struck me: anyone who is serious about writing NEEDS this. A writing relationship based on mutual respect, encouragement, and utter honesty.    

Writing Process

So I had plans to post about my writing/revising process to date, but I've been lost writing queries. Apparently writing queries makes me not want to blog, or something. During the last two weeks of query writing and agent research, I have:

1) Confirmed to my complete satisfaction that I am bad at waiting for things.
2) Eaten an entire tub of Trader Joe's peanut butter cups.
3) Woken up in the wee hours of the morning wanting to work on my new writing project.

Oh, new writing project (that I will henceforth call GhostNovel) - I've been waiting several years to be ready to write you, and now I think I am. I've posted here before about Lev Grossman's comment that authors are like magpies: they collect things that shine at them funny because they know they'll need them later. I've found that to be inescapably true. So here's what my desk is looking like:

Yes, that's a book fan. Yes, I'll blog about it later.

I keep note cards in my purse on which I write quotes, plot points, and anything and everything I think could be useful to an upcoming project. It's pretty satisfying (and immensely helpful) to lay them all out when I'm ready to start.

Research/Inspiring Pile.

Currently listening to: "Bilgewater" by Brown Bird

On Being "Done"

Hello, Blogosphere. I haven't posted for a little while because I've been in the Editing Cave. For the past week I've shunned friend seeing, job hunting and movie going to finalize my last round of edits for Torn (aka Novel#2). Blogging is not allowed in the Editing Cave: only chocolate, coffee, and Bon Iver. I'm pretty pleased to be able to say that, after two years of planning, writing and rewriting, I'm finally "done" with a story I love.*

In celebration, I'm hoping to do a few posts on my writing and editing process this week to share some of the things I've learned along the way. But first I want to leave you with a series of pictures that inspired me while I worked on Torn and helped me shape it.

Source: google.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Kate on Pinterest

Source: nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kate on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Kate on Pinterest

*except for some expert final proofreads from Mom, who is better than any editor I know at picking up funky grammar errors.

Music Magpie

I recently read a blog post concerning Lev Grossman's writing process, and liked this very much:

"... when you’re in a certain phase of novel-making, you’re like a magpie: when something gleams at you funny, you swoop down and grab it and take it back to your nest, because you know, you just know, you’re going to need it later." 

I've always found this to be true: I pick up images and snatches of words until they start to click into place, transforming themselves from snatches to stories. I've been collecting shiny things for my next writing project for several years now, waiting to be ready to write it, and I've found some music that I know I'm going to need. This is music that begs to be shared.

The Civil Wars - "Barton Hollow"

It's not every day that my mother introduces me to music that I fall heartily in love with. We have different tastes, but my thirst for haunting, rich bluesy music has me loving this duo an awful lot. If there was a book trailer for my WIP, this would be playing in it.

Boy & Bear - "Moonstone"

Oh, Australia. I love you in so many ways, specifically for introducing me to some of my favorite music. I love every song on this album, although this is one of the catchiest.