By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
How long is too long? What's the average length of a YA book? A romance novel? A thriller? Can you go over (or under) and still sell your book? What if you have to cut words?
First, let's look at some of the basics:
A quick note first...these are general ranges not hard and fast rules. There are plenty of novels that fall outside these ranges. If your novel is one of them, don't panic. There's wiggle room, but be smart about it.
Showing posts with label CB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CB. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, June 04, 2010
How Do You Know When to Use What?
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
A commenter asked a great question this week, and it's similar to one I heard at a book signing Wednesday for authors Kim Harrison, Aprilynne Pike, and Ellen Schreiber.
How do you know...X?
The commenter asked how do you know when to use dramatic irony or surprise readers. The audience member at the signing asked how do you know what to cut out. (Which Aprilynne Pike had the best answer ever. "My editor tells me. In purple pencil.")
This is a tough question no matter what's being asked, because a lot of times it's hard to answer. How do yo know what to cut out? Whatever isn't working for the story. But how do you know what isn't working? It's different for every single story. Even within the same story it can be different.
I'm going to go back to the commenter's question here, because it's the easiest one to answer and really does cover the overall answer for these types of questions.
How do you know when to use dramatic irony versus surprising the reader?
It all depends on what you're trying to do with the story. If you want to surprise the reader, you'd hold back details and set it up so they don't see the surprise coming (but then can see the oh-so-subtle clues you left so this surprise fits). You wouldn't want to leave enough clues for readers to figure it out ahead of time if that would spoil the story.
Now, if you're unsure which one is better, it again falls to story and what you want. If you want to shock the reader and knock them for a loop, a surprise might be the better call. If you want to build tension and get them anticipating something, dramatic irony might be the way to go. You'd look at what each device accomplishes and then decide which works best for the story at that moment.
This is true of almost any "how do you...?" type question. It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you're editing, you cut out what doesn't move the story along. If you're struggling with back story, you add only what serves the story. How many POVs to use? What number would best tell the story?
"What works best for the story" will guide you every time, because the story is what matters.
I know how frustrating this can be. Because if you knew what was best for the story you wouldn't have the question, right?
This isn't necessarily true. A lot of times we get stuck on the plot, or the premise, or the character, and we struggle to find the answer there. But the problem might be with the plot, or the premise, or the character, and we need to step back and look at the bigger picture to figure how how to do something. Story is the big picture. The other stuff is just the pieces that go into making that story.
And sometimes, you need to figure it out for yourself. People can guide you and suggest things, but that final click of understanding has to come from you. It can take a while to get there sometimes, but if you keep trying, you'll figure it out.
And then you'll know how.
A commenter asked a great question this week, and it's similar to one I heard at a book signing Wednesday for authors Kim Harrison, Aprilynne Pike, and Ellen Schreiber.
How do you know...X
The commenter asked how do you know when to use dramatic irony or surprise readers. The audience member at the signing asked how do you know what to cut out. (Which Aprilynne Pike had the best answer ever. "My editor tells me. In purple pencil.")
This is a tough question no matter what's being asked, because a lot of times it's hard to answer. How do yo know what to cut out? Whatever isn't working for the story. But how do you know what isn't working? It's different for every single story. Even within the same story it can be different.
I'm going to go back to the commenter's question here, because it's the easiest one to answer and really does cover the overall answer for these types of questions.
How do you know when to use dramatic irony versus surprising the reader?
It all depends on what you're trying to do with the story. If you want to surprise the reader, you'd hold back details and set it up so they don't see the surprise coming (but then can see the oh-so-subtle clues you left so this surprise fits). You wouldn't want to leave enough clues for readers to figure it out ahead of time if that would spoil the story.
Now, if you're unsure which one is better, it again falls to story and what you want. If you want to shock the reader and knock them for a loop, a surprise might be the better call. If you want to build tension and get them anticipating something, dramatic irony might be the way to go. You'd look at what each device accomplishes and then decide which works best for the story at that moment.
This is true of almost any "how do you...?" type question. It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. If you're editing, you cut out what doesn't move the story along. If you're struggling with back story, you add only what serves the story. How many POVs to use? What number would best tell the story?
"What works best for the story" will guide you every time, because the story is what matters.
I know how frustrating this can be. Because if you knew what was best for the story you wouldn't have the question, right?
This isn't necessarily true. A lot of times we get stuck on the plot, or the premise, or the character, and we struggle to find the answer there. But the problem might be with the plot, or the premise, or the character, and we need to step back and look at the bigger picture to figure how how to do something. Story is the big picture. The other stuff is just the pieces that go into making that story.
And sometimes, you need to figure it out for yourself. People can guide you and suggest things, but that final click of understanding has to come from you. It can take a while to get there sometimes, but if you keep trying, you'll figure it out.
And then you'll know how.
Monday, May 03, 2010
The Writer's Peak: Coming Down After a First Draft
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Finishing a novel feels a bit like standing at the top of Everest, cheering your ability to reach the summit, then realizing you have to climb down.
Don't get me wrong, completing a first draft of a novel is a huge achievement and it shouldn't be under appreciated in any way. It's just not the end of the journey. Revisions come next, and they can be just as challenging as the first draft sometimes.
Since many of you have or are getting close to completing your own first drafts, (and we've been talking a lot about process and what writers do) I thought I'd share my plan for the "trip down."
Oh, it's probably important to note what shape my first drafts are usually in so we have some context here. By the time I write "the end," I've gone over every chapter at least twice. Once when I wrote it, then again on a second pass look as I re-read what I wrote the day before. If there was a chapter that had extensive tweaks in the rough draft stage, then it may have been revised more than twice. The manuscript will have spots that are really awful, and chapters that are pretty clean. In this particular manuscript, there are also a ton of notes to remind myself to go back and add something. I put those in parentheses, because I don't want to slow myself to color the text as I'm writing. This is a new things for me, and it developed because I'd remember something from an earlier book that had to be addressed and just add it in. Or I'd think of something cool and make notes, pretending as if I'd written the ground work for it already.
So anyway...
The first thing I'll do is go back and make all the edits from my in-progress crit group. I've been working on them the last few weeks as I finished the book, but I still have about eight chapters to go (especially since five of them I gave to my group Sunday afternoon).
When I go through WIP crits, I do a combination of fixes and notes. I make any changes that are a no-brainer. Typos, unclear anything, quick edits to tighten or smooth over language. Unless I disagree with what's being suggested, I listen to the advice. (One note here: I have a terrific crit group I can trust who knows their stuff. You never want to blindly accept advice or edit based on things you don't agree with).
Once I've done the easy fixes, I'll look at the harder stuff. These usually involve motive or characterization. A character not acting plausibly in a scene, or a plot thread that's not coming across clearly. Sometimes I can tweak a few things here and there and fix these, other times I know I need to do some major overhauling.
If it's a major overhaul, I'll make notes in that scene. NEEDS TO FEEL MORE EMOTIONAL or whatever the issue is. I usually make them in all caps and red so they stand out. If I have any ideas, I note them there as well.
Next, I'll go back and do a find for ( so I can easily get to all my notes. Then I'll take them one by one, and either make the addition, or make note of what needs to go where. I'll have to let you know how this turns out, but I imagine it'll be similar to my crit notes.
When all that is finished, I'll start from page one and look for the notes. Then I'll do whatever needs to be done.
I know after this pass I'll most likely have redundant info and stuff that just plain feels out of whack. I don't worry about any of that as I edit here. That's where the full read through comes in.
After all the edits are made, I'll go back to page one and read the entire manuscript, looking for anything that pops out at me. Sometimes it'll be little tweaks, other times I'll see a whole scene that just feels long and needs to be cut back. I like to do this in big chunks, because I can get a better sense of the flow that way, and I remember what I just read, so the redundancies stand out better. Ideally, I like to do half one day and half the next.
When done, it goes off to my "finished draft" crit group and they read through it with very critical eyes. And when they're done, I go through the whole process again.
Unless they tell me I need serious overhauling (which happens), I'll make those edits, and then send it off to my editor. If I'm not on deadline, then I'll let the manuscript sit for a few weeks, then I'll give it one final read before I send it off.
Then I can breathe and admire the view.
Finishing a novel feels a bit like standing at the top of Everest, cheering your ability to reach the summit, then realizing you have to climb down.
Don't get me wrong, completing a first draft of a novel is a huge achievement and it shouldn't be under appreciated in any way. It's just not the end of the journey. Revisions come next, and they can be just as challenging as the first draft sometimes.
Since many of you have or are getting close to completing your own first drafts, (and we've been talking a lot about process and what writers do) I thought I'd share my plan for the "trip down."
Oh, it's probably important to note what shape my first drafts are usually in so we have some context here. By the time I write "the end," I've gone over every chapter at least twice. Once when I wrote it, then again on a second pass look as I re-read what I wrote the day before. If there was a chapter that had extensive tweaks in the rough draft stage, then it may have been revised more than twice. The manuscript will have spots that are really awful, and chapters that are pretty clean. In this particular manuscript, there are also a ton of notes to remind myself to go back and add something. I put those in parentheses, because I don't want to slow myself to color the text as I'm writing. This is a new things for me, and it developed because I'd remember something from an earlier book that had to be addressed and just add it in. Or I'd think of something cool and make notes, pretending as if I'd written the ground work for it already.
So anyway...
The first thing I'll do is go back and make all the edits from my in-progress crit group. I've been working on them the last few weeks as I finished the book, but I still have about eight chapters to go (especially since five of them I gave to my group Sunday afternoon).
When I go through WIP crits, I do a combination of fixes and notes. I make any changes that are a no-brainer. Typos, unclear anything, quick edits to tighten or smooth over language. Unless I disagree with what's being suggested, I listen to the advice. (One note here: I have a terrific crit group I can trust who knows their stuff. You never want to blindly accept advice or edit based on things you don't agree with).
Once I've done the easy fixes, I'll look at the harder stuff. These usually involve motive or characterization. A character not acting plausibly in a scene, or a plot thread that's not coming across clearly. Sometimes I can tweak a few things here and there and fix these, other times I know I need to do some major overhauling.
If it's a major overhaul, I'll make notes in that scene. NEEDS TO FEEL MORE EMOTIONAL or whatever the issue is. I usually make them in all caps and red so they stand out. If I have any ideas, I note them there as well.
Next, I'll go back and do a find for ( so I can easily get to all my notes. Then I'll take them one by one, and either make the addition, or make note of what needs to go where. I'll have to let you know how this turns out, but I imagine it'll be similar to my crit notes.
When all that is finished, I'll start from page one and look for the notes. Then I'll do whatever needs to be done.
I know after this pass I'll most likely have redundant info and stuff that just plain feels out of whack. I don't worry about any of that as I edit here. That's where the full read through comes in.
After all the edits are made, I'll go back to page one and read the entire manuscript, looking for anything that pops out at me. Sometimes it'll be little tweaks, other times I'll see a whole scene that just feels long and needs to be cut back. I like to do this in big chunks, because I can get a better sense of the flow that way, and I remember what I just read, so the redundancies stand out better. Ideally, I like to do half one day and half the next.
When done, it goes off to my "finished draft" crit group and they read through it with very critical eyes. And when they're done, I go through the whole process again.
Unless they tell me I need serious overhauling (which happens), I'll make those edits, and then send it off to my editor. If I'm not on deadline, then I'll let the manuscript sit for a few weeks, then I'll give it one final read before I send it off.
Then I can breathe and admire the view.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Word Up! Word Counts
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_HardyWord count guidelines provide a framework in which to plan a novel, and can actually make it easier for a writer, because you have a structure within which to work. But going over or under often sends a writer into a fit of panic, because there's so much contradictory information out there. For every person who says you'll never get published with a 145,000-word book, another says BestsellerBob’s novel was 145,000 words, so don't worry. The really frustrating part, is that they're both right. But it's all depends on the book. (Doesn't it always?)
But here’s the thing…
It's not about how many words you have, but what those words do, that counts.
This, folks, is the holy grail of word counts.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Here We Go, Rewrites, Here We Go
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
This morning, I finished the first draft of the second book in my YA fantasy trilogy, The Healing Wars. (whoohoo, go me). This is cause for celebration, because writing 76,000 words of anything deserves a pat on the back. The dancing is short lived, however, because now it's time to revise.
Every writer has their own editing style, just like they have their own writing style. I like to throw down a rough draft of a chapter to see how the story shakes out. Then I go back and flesh it out, layering in details, providing internalization and adding the emotional layers that give that narrative oompf. Then I move on to the next chapter. Because of this, my first drafts tend to be fairly solid. They're far from ready though, and there's still a lot to be done before they can be sent to my editor (or sent to agents if you're querying).
This morning, I finished the first draft of the second book in my YA fantasy trilogy, The Healing Wars. (whoohoo, go me). This is cause for celebration, because writing 76,000 words of anything deserves a pat on the back. The dancing is short lived, however, because now it's time to revise.
Every writer has their own editing style, just like they have their own writing style. I like to throw down a rough draft of a chapter to see how the story shakes out. Then I go back and flesh it out, layering in details, providing internalization and adding the emotional layers that give that narrative oompf. Then I move on to the next chapter. Because of this, my first drafts tend to be fairly solid. They're far from ready though, and there's still a lot to be done before they can be sent to my editor (or sent to agents if you're querying).
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