Who Am I Rooting For Today?

Stop or Go: When Do You Go Back and Revise?

If you're anything like me, cool stuff just happens as you write. Your characters say or do something you weren't expecting, and you get that happy little buzz of excitement.

Until you realize that there's absolutely no groundwork for that cool thing.

This happened to me just recently in Shifter 3. I got to a super awesome scene moment in chapter two, and something happened that was perfect for Nya, but readers were so not gonna get it. It wouldn't have any meaning to them because I hadn't done any groundwork for it. It was one of those things that grew from what had happened in books one and two. My subconscious was stealth writing again.

Now, I had two choices. Go back and put in the groundwork for this scene to have its full impact, or keep going and worry about it during first draft revisions.

Since this moment was central to the core plot, I decided going back was the right choice. There will be a new chapter now that sets up this moment, and I really hope readers will be as excited about it as I am when they read it.

But it isn't always easy to know if going back is the right thing to do or not. It doesn't take much to get caught in a editing loop and never get anywhere with your story. When I have to decide to go forward or go back, I consider these things:

1. Is this critical to the core plot?
If knowing how this event unfolds will affect how the story unfolds going forward, I go back and edit. Especially if this event is going to motivate my protag to act later. If the event is more cosmetic, or will deepen something that's already there, I'll make notes where it should go and move on.

2. Do I know how the characters got here?
If the scene/moment is a cool way to use what I already wrote and just needs a tweak to make it fit better, then I make notes and move on. But if I'm not sure how the characters reached this point, but I know it happened "somewhere" between X and Y, then I go back and figure it out.


3. Do I even know what happened?
I've discovered many a "thing" in the story that I had no clue how it worked. It's cool, it's great for the story or character, but it's going to take some serious thinking and major layering to get it to fit in with what I already have. This is usually world building epiphanies or the like. These I make notes and go back, because they almost always require lots of work and surgical editing to add them in.

4. Will this kill my momentum?
When you're on a roll, you're on a roll. If stopping is going to make me stare at the screen when my fingers were ready to type another three hours, I keep moving. A few quick notes so I don't forget, then I get back and let the muse work. Once I'm done, I decide if I need to go back or not.

Moments of genius can be great ways to rev up your excitement about a project, so don't let the thought of "all that work" get your down. There's nothing that says you have to stop and fix it at that moment. As long as you make a note of it somewhere, you'll be good to go.

Brains on a Page: Getting What's in our Head into the Story

As writers, we know our stories well. We know our character's history, the world building events that shaped the setting, the past wounds that affect motivation. It's all in our heads as we plot and plan and write.

Trouble is, we don't always get what's in our heads onto the page.

You'll know when this happens when you get feedback like "I didn't understand why they did this here" when you so surely know that the reasons are there. You can point to them in the text. And then the reader says "Oh, okay, I didn't get that."

Odds are what's in the text is only a fraction of what's in your mind. The words you wrote have context for you that missing for the reader. It feels like it's all there, but when you look close, the words means almost nothing.

It's hard to catch these little buggers because we can't just turn off our memories of what we know about our stories. The best way to self edit here is to set the book aside for a while (a month is usually good) and then read it again. A lot of things will pop out at you this time.

You can also try looking at your character's choices and actions and double checking to see where the groundwork for that is. Ask yourself if it's clear by what's in the text. Most times all you'll need is a few extra words or a line or two to clarify everything.

Description is another spot that often gets left behind. You see the setting in your head, so you focus on what's going on in that setting. (Doubly so if you've spent time on the setting earlier, so in your mind "it's done.") The scenes turns out to be talking heads in a white room, with no sense of where they are.

A quick self check here is to examine how every scene starts. Are there details right away that ground the reader in the scene? Do they know who's in the room? Have they changed location since the last scene? Changed times? Don't forget to check your chapter breaks as well if the scene crosses over. It's very easy to skip all those details in a new chapter because the readers just read it, but chapters are where readers set down books, so if they're coming back to it after a break they might have forgotten things. While you don't want to rehash everything, a gentle reminder isn't a bad idea if you slip it in there naturally.

Sometimes just keeping in mind, "will new readers understand this?" as you read is enough to pick up on things that need a bit more fleshing out.

This Just In...

I know, three posts in one day. Just craaaazy.

I was talking with my editor earlier and she told me she loves Shifter 2. (major happy dance of joy). She says she thinks it's even better than book one. Yippie!

Since you guys have been here while I've talked about the challenges of this book, I wanted to share my happiness and relief that it actually doesn't suck.

I was so worried. Ya'll know how much.

Whew.

Okay, go back to your regularly scheduled blog. I'm gonna go dance for joy some more.

Guess Who Had Time to Read Her Blogs Today

I'm a big blog fan, and have probably twenty I read every day, and another dozen I check once a week (they don't post daily). It takes some time to read them all, so when I'm busy, this is often the first thing that gets set aside. Shifter 2 copy edits went out the door yesterday (YAY!) so today I've been catching up. A large percentage is about Amazon's Macmillian fiasco, but there were a few really great posts I highly recommend.

TalkToYoUniverse has a fabulous post on point and view and the words you use to create it. Juliette has the best way of talking about POV I've ever seen, and I love it when she gets into the nitty gritty. She's the only one I've ever met who can so succinctly say why one POV feels differently from another.

Agent Rachelle Gardener asks whether or not you need a book trailer, which is quite enlightening. Make sure to read the article she links to that shows a strong con view.

Mystery Writing is Murder has a delightful post about getting rid of the boring stuff your characters do. I thought about rifting off her idea and doing a post on this myself, but she says it so well it anything I did would just be redundant.

I haven't forgotten today is Wednesday (well, actually I did when I woke up. I've been thinking every day was Monday all week for some reason) and I'll have a Re-Write Wednesday post up later.

And just because I'm mean, I'm getting soooo close to be able to show you Shifter 2 cover art!

Jump on Those Ideas

I was at the movies last week when this preview aired.



My first thought was "That's my spleen story!"

Now, I'm in no way whatsoever saying anyone stole my idea or anything, because this was a story I published sixteen years ago in a teeny magazine that didn't last long and I doubt many people even read it. It had the same "rent your body parts" premise (It was actually called Rent to Own), but was otherwise completely different. I had always planned to rewrite the story and make it edgier, but never did because the only ending I could think of was that the organ repo guy would find himself in a situation where he had his own leased organ he couldn't pay for and they'd come get him. That felt too predictable to me, so I never wrote it.

Naturally, Repo Men has that very premise. I think it'll work in a movie where it wouldn't in a short story, because movies are visual and we don't mind a little predictability there. And there might be a twist the preview doesn't show.

So what does this have to do with writing?

If you have a great idea, get up off your butts and write it.

Ideas don't exist in a vacuum. I may have thought of this premise years ago, but it's a natural evolution of our culture, where leasing things and getting over extended on credit is getting more and more common. I'm actually shocked it hasn't been done before this. It is a great idea.

If you have a great idea and you plan to "get to it eventually," don't wait too long. Someone somewhere is bound to come up with the idea as well and get there first. We're all exposed to the same things and the law of large numbers says a bunch of us will draw the same conclusions. That's why those summer blockbusters always come in pairs. Two volcano movies, two asteroid movies, two mars movies, two illusionist movies. You've all seen the trend.

Don't just talk about your great idea. Don't dream about "someday" when you'll write it. Get to that keyboard and start putting it down. Because the last thing you want to see is your idea on a movie screen before you can do it.

As for me, I can't wait to see Repo Men. Maybe it'll inspire me to finally find the right ending to my story.

Talking About a Character's Past

Maybe it's just that I'm working on the last book in a trilogy, but ways to handle back story have been popping up left and right. My newest revelation: when adding new details, don't reference stuff that happened in the other books unless it's important to the new plot, or a critical part of the world mechanics.

I've found myself mentioning things that happened in books one and two, not in a "this is what happened" way, but like private jokes between the characters. Comparisons or reminders of events past. They feel terribly natural because they do reference real things that happened, but for those who might be reading the series in non-chronological order, they won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Even those that are reading right along might not get it if it's been a while between books.

It's really easy to add these kinds of details, then on a later read, decide you need to add more exposition so readers will get it. Your instincts are right in saying "there's a problem here" but they can send you in the wrong direction. In most cases, instead of adding, it's better to subtract. Doubly so if these details are there to enhance the world building or character development. It might have had great significance in an earlier book, but without the context from that book to back it up, it doesn't always work the same way.

The spots where these little memories work well is when that memory triggers a natural way to have your protag talk about necessary back story. For example, in Blue Fire, Nya looks back and sees the Healers' League (I won't say more for those who haven't read it yet). She's instantly reminded of what happened there in book one, which gives me a great opportunity to introduce that part for new readers. And since what happened directly affects the problem she finds herself in at that moment, it advances the story as well.

But I also had a line that made a joke about something that happened in book one that had no bearing whatsoever on the plot. It was specific enough that it was clear there was more to it, but not clear enough to get it without reading the first book (provided they even remembered it). Readers would most likely feel like they were supposed to get it, but missed something. And you certainly don't want readers stopping to flip back to re-read, especially when the answer isn't there.

This is a tip mainly for sequels, but I'd imagine it has some usefulness in a first or stand alone book as well. If you find yourself feeling the need to explain an offhand comment or detail, odds are it doesn't need to be there. If that detail provides an opportunity to naturally talk about back story, it's probably fine. It can be tough to decide which is which sometimes, but if you look at what will advance the story and what won't, it should be a lot clearer.