As November draws to a close, so does the quest to win NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I put win in italics because the prize is primarily self-satisfaction or bragging rights. Many writers participate the month was designed to get people to put words on the page. Any words toward the goal of writing a novel. The basic premise is to take a blank sheet of paper (or digital variation thereof) and have a shiny bright new idea, and starting November 1st write 50,000 words (averaging 1,667 words a day) by the end of November 30th—a daunting, but theoretically achievable task.

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO ALL PARTICIPANTS THIS YEAR! I SALUTE YOU!!!

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In the past, I have enjoyed cheering on anyone participating in the event. I missed checking up on how people were doing against their goal this year and hearing the excitement as everyone discussed their ideas with such enthusiasm. On November 1st, surrounded by boxes everywhere, I gave a brief thought to those who were dashing off their first words followed by a pensive pang because I'd miss all the excitement. I knew I wouldn't participate this year because the cross-country move I made mid-November put paid to any hopes of completing the task. I'm not an active participant in NaNoWriMo in any year … the self-inflicted pressure of writing a certain number of words or falling short of a goal halts my writing process … but I do enjoy cheering everyone else on.

As a writer, I don't have a daily (or even weekly) word count goal—either when drafting or editing. It may drive my agent crazy, but my process simply doesn't function that way and setting those concrete goals can put the creative brakes on more than it will ever spur me to achieve the goal. So how do I finish anything? It's all about knowing who you are as a writer and being true to your process.

Depending on the book, my process can either be fast or slow or somewhere in between. It depends on the story, the complexity of the plot, and primarily the characters and how well they communicate the story to me. The book I'm editing for what feels like the 3,000th time, South of Happy (Katie McCabe, Book 2), I wrote in 3 weeks, but it took me nine or ten months to complete the first draft edits. While the words simply flowed out of me and I wrote on average 5,000 words a night and between 10k-15k on the weekend days, the resulting manuscript had the makings of a story, but technically it was a big lump of clay that I'd thrown at the wall. A lot of clean up work had to be done to shape it into the story it is today.

By contrast my current WIP (Work in Progress), The Secret of the Red Key (Homeless Myths, Book 1), is taking longer for me to write than any other book I've written. Why? In an odd way, it is taking longer because I have learned more about the craft of writing and am far more deliberate about what I'm doing as I put words on the page. But that also means there will be a lot less mess to clean up when I'm done.

When writing South of Happy, I only knew it was a sequel to the first book, Rain Falling on Embers, and since I had lived with the characters in my head for a while, I merely had to plug in my headphones and turn on my music and the words simply gushed. At that point, I had no idea the story would develop into a five book series.

With The Secret of the Red Key, I have known from almost the outset that it will be a five book series. I don't know the characters quite as well yet, and the plot of this one is far more complex than with the Katie McCabe series. I absolutely love what is going on the page, the characters who keep popping up while I'm in progress, and the direction for the series, but since I'm getting things in a piecemeal fashion instead of linear, it is going to take longer for me to write. But it will be worth the wait.

Congratulations to all who participated in NaNoWriMo 2023 and best wishes as you complete your novel and polish it 'til it shines.

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Interestingly, I did know there would be a tunnel, but had no answers for things like: How did a tunnel come to be built under a Middle School? I did attend a college in the Midwest that had tunnels running from some of the older buildings to the others, which had been built for use in extreme weather conditions, but had never been used in recent years. Besides, those weren’t like the hand hewn tunnel of Washington Academy. The fully-lined concrete walls took away all the romance of the concept of tunnels and they simply became cold, dark corridors where you were more likely to greet a scurrying rat than anything interesting.

I wanted this tunnel to be more romantic. Which meant a potentially modern day construction was out as far as the school was concerned. And out of that thought blossomed the background for the school location and an off-page character (because he’d been dead for over a hundred years by the start of the story). Silas Tucker, though not a part of the school itself, definitely played a major role in the story and it was he who built the tunnel.

     Rhonda scraped the dust away with her foot. Come on, be there. Her stomach twisted at the thought of what Spencer would say if she had picked the wrong spot. And the rest of the kids would agree, especially the ones who’d moved the mainframe.
     Was that a groove? She knelt.
     She brushed her fingers across it. Definitely not a scrape from the mainframe. Teeny bits of grit fell into it and disappeared. Tracing it, she shook her head. A single groove wasn’t enough, there had to be more. And there had to be a handle somewhere.
     Dennis squatted beside her. “What’re you looking for?”
     “It’s here. The door into the tunnel, but we have to figure out how to open it.”

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I’ve kept in touch over the journey for this book, giving Karen updates for where the book is at in the process and I was delighted to have the opportunity to send her an Advance Reader Copy to help thank her for the help she freely gave me. Her response to the book completely overwhelmed me.

So, I arrived home earlier today to find your book on my front porch and I have just come up for air, realizing that I haven’t even eaten since I picked it up. (It’s 11:00) I don’t even know where to begin. Should I start with the dedication that brought me to tears? The first time I saw my name as the teacher and I gasped? (I really had forgotten that you had said you would use my name!) The fact that the beginning of the book is so very reminiscent of the real thing? The illustration toward the end when I saw myself? All of those things were beyond my expectations, but what I really want to say is that the book held me captive from beginning to end. You captured the middle school mind perfectly, showing their insecurities as well as the amazing strength that is just below the surface. Bravo! It is a wonderful book and I can see it being used during a study of government as a class read. The illustrator is also superb. I could go on and on. (I also am really amazed at how you captured me as a teacher … how did you do that?) So thank you, thank you, thank you! I loved every part of this book and I am so very proud, as I said earlier, to have had any part in it.

As I write this, I’m the one with tears in my eyes. To think that two total strangers on opposite sides of the United States can connect through happenstance and a story is born, is still an incredible concept to me. And there is no greater praise than for a writer to hear their work has been consumed by a reader, that the reader was captured from start to finish. Because the story was inspired by the classroom experience, it meant so much to me to hear that the story was reminiscent of the real experience. To hear I have captured the middle school mind makes me grin … because this is coming from someone who deals with those minds as her profession.

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“Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. The problem with making mental notes is that the ink fades very rapidly.” – Rolf Smith

The bane of the writer’s existence is the idea that arrives at an inconvenient time. I don’t think I’ve ever had a story show up while I’m sitting in front of my keyboard, hands poised over the keys, ready to dash down the idea as it forms. Ideas show up in the middle of the night as dreams, or wake you from a sound sleep with a mind blast of a brilliant idea you’re CERTAIN you’ll remember in the morning. Then morning comes and you struggle to clear the fog away to remember the unforgettable. Ideas come while driving, walking, taking a shower, in the middle of a conversation, on a bike ride. They come from all places: dreams, the lyrics of a song, a two-second sound byte of a news story, a newspaper headline, an article on the internet, an overheard snippet of conversation, and completely out of the blue as if by lightning strike.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single writer I know state they are going to go sit in front of their computer and come up with a brilliant idea to write about. Invariably, the idea has come and we are itching to get to a keyboard and get it down. BUT what happens when you’re brain is a magnet that collects more ideas than you can write at the moment? How do you capture the idea, especially the one flitting through the night? Most writers I know have a list of story ideas they work from. And once they get started on one from their list, invariably a shiny new idea makes its presence known.

Some keep a notepad and pen on their nightstand to capture those middle of the night revelations and travel everywhere with a notebook or journal for capturing the ideas as they arrive. A friend of mine uses a recording device in the same way. Because thoughts can be elusive. My method is this: survival of the fittest … up to a point. If I have a dream or an idea wakes me in the middle of the night, I don’t jot it down. I wait until morning and if the idea is truly one meant to be captured, I’ll remember, or it will come back. Because my stories that are waiting to be written can be pests. They don’t leave me alone until they have been properly documented and saved in a file.

I used to document the ideas in a word document, jotting down as much of the story as I got at the moment, and adding to the document as more thoughts for the story arrived. I have since modified to using OneNote because I can post a segment of an article from the internet and the URL of the article is automatically captured, or if I explain my idea to anyone, or something develops during an email conversation, when I copy and paste the pertinent bit into the document, it links to the email exchange — which can come in handy. I can also save pictures for character representation and have multiple pages to document things like setting, character background, etc. so organization is much cleaner.

Once I document what I need to, I close the file and go back to what I’m working on. Sometimes it takes years before I get around to the story, but in the meantime, as ideas occur related to the story, I have a place to keep them so I don’t forget. My brain happens to be one of those idea magnets, so my list is always huge, but when I’m ready to work on something new, I never lack for something to write about. How do you capture your ideas?

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Things I am Thankful For

• My childhood — Despite the normal grumblings of a child, my childhood was good. No major hardships, loving parents, good schools, the freedom to explore, a neighborhood where everyone looked out for everyone else.
• My mother — I honestly cannot say enough about this woman. She overcame several hardships in her life and made a vow her children would never have to deal with the things she did. And we didn’t. Whenever I might think I have reason to complain about what life has to offer, I look at her example and realize I have not only nothing to complain about, but owe her a debt that can never be repaid for her being the person she is. She is, and always has been, one of the most positive influences in my life. My support, giving me my roots to ground me and the wings to fly.
• My sister and her family — They are very near and dear to my heart. As a kid I waited a long time for my sister to show up and have always considered her an extremely special part of my life and heart.
• My characters — Without them I would have no stories to share and my life would be far less rich. Their whispers in my ear give my life purpose and joy.
• My literary manager — The woman who not only took a chance on representing me and my work, but crawled out on my tree limb with me to enjoy the view. She has a unique understanding of my work, sometimes knowing more about it than I do about where it is headed. And she has brought me opportunities I would not otherwise have had, challenged me to stretch as an author, and has cheered me on in all endeavors.
• Team Timmy — Working on a children’s chapter book series is one of those opportunities given to me by my literary manager, and I couldn’t be happier with the team we have working on the project. It truly is a collaboration and together we are putting something special together. Each member of the team brings their own magic to the project and I am thankful and blessed to have these people in my life.
• My business partner — I wouldn’t have jumped off the cliff with anyone else and while the past year has been a roller coaster, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
• Section K and Cal State Fullerton Baseball — For bringing me many friendships I might not otherwise have had and a sense of family in the stands, plus hours of enjoyment as the team battles to win. Inspiring in those moments when you see a player give it their all for the love of the game.
• My doctors — Though ill, I am thankful to have such good caretakers who are diligent, knowledgeable, and care about ensuring the right things are done at the right time to combat the challenges I face.
• The writing community — The internet has provided the wonderful opportunity to connect with those who share my passion. You are my people.
• My day job — While offering challenges every work day, I have a roof over my head and food on the table, and consider myself blessed to have the benefits I do.
• Long-time friends — You know who you are. The wonderful people I can connect with at a moment’s notice and we can pick up our friendship without losing a beat. The people I know I can call on in any crisis and those I know will always be there for me.
• My best friend — Words fail me when I try to express how much this friend means to me because there are too many things I want to say and they all jumble up in a big ol’ knot and get stuck. So I will simply say that I am blessed and do not know what I did to deserve such a fabulous friend, but it must have been HUGE. Without you I am lost.

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Previously, I spoke about being a plotter or a pantster and how I fall in the middle of the spectrum. I’d like to add that for me, every book is different. Some require much more detailed planning in advance of starting, others simply have to be written and forget the outline you dashed down because we’re going on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride with this one.

I am very much a character-driven writer, so no matter whether well-plotted out or using the sketchiest outline possible, I need to know my characters well. They need to become real people to me. I imagine different scenarios, outside the story line, to see how they will react. I have imaginary conversations with my characters to get a sense of who they are and what their opinions and attitudes are.

Not all authors have to know their characters like I do, but for me, if my characters are not real people to me, I can’t write the story. So before I put one word on the page, I will spend a lot of time staring at the screen, the ceiling, off into space … listening for my characters to speak. One method that usually works for me is putting in headphones and going for a walk. Or going for a long drive. Until I know WHO I’m working with, I don’t have their story.

Writing the story is just the beginning. Once you get the story down on paper (or on a computer file), you then go back and re-read and revise. You are looking for mistakes (like missing words) as well as changing some of the story. EVERY writer makes changes to their work because they always find something that they want to change, something that will make it better. No one starts with a story that doesn’t need changes. It doesn’t matter how many times I review a story, I will always see something I want to change, so for me the hard part is determining when the story is polished.

One writing teacher I had stated the ability to write a story was the ability to keep your behind in the chair long enough. Inspiration of what to write is the wonderful part because your brain is bubbling with ideas and they take hold and haunt you until you put them down on paper. Then comes the work of staying in a chair long enough to get the whole story down — and to review it more times than you can count.

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I’d like to share with you a little about the writing process. Of course, I can’t tell you how all authors write, but I can share my process as well as those of some authors I know.

There is a popular theory that if you had a room of monkeys typing on a keyboard and infinite amount of time, they would be able to replicate all of the great works of fiction or indeed any book ever written. It is called the infinite monkey theorem—and the idea has always tickled me because I cannot conceive of a roomful of well-behaved monkeys sitting for as long as it would take to create the complete works of Shakespeare. Jesse Anderson created a fun visualization of what it would take for the monkeys to recreate Shakespeare … hover the cursor over the text and the box on the right shows how many attempts it would take to create the highlighted phrase. And at the bottom of this post I have included a computer simulation of how those random phrases might occur. So I guess my biggest problem is not having enough monkeys to do the writing for me.

Another theory is that to write a story, you start at the beginning, keep writing until you reach the end and then stop. This sounds easy, but when you start to put the words down all sorts of questions start cropping up. What is the beginning? How will I know when to end? How do I get from the beginning to the end? Getting started is tough when looking at the blank page, but sometimes knowing when the story is done is even harder. YIKES!!

Some authors create a very detailed outline of their story before they start to write it. They need to know every plot point before they can start writing the story. Once they have all of the details mapped out, they put the words on the page and the characters in the story follow the map. They are called plotters.

Some authors don’t know where the writing is going to take them, they don’t map out their story line first, but just start with a concept (a setting, a character, an event) and see where it takes them. They approach writing with a “let’s see what happens next” attitude. They are called pansters.

I actually fit in between the two. I need to know the basics of my story, but as I write, there are twists that happen that I didn’t know were going to happen. It’s almost like the story takes on a life of its own and the characters go in directions that I didn’t know they were going to go in, but eventually, they meet me back at the story line that I started with. It’s fun when your characters start taking on a life of their own, because at that point, they start writing the story for you. Maybe I do have monkeys in a room somewhere. Or maybe I’m the monkey.

Another thing to keep in mind, is how you approach the story may depend on the story itself. Some take more planning and others need to be left more to where the characters take you. Where do YOU fall on the spectrum? What is your writing comfort zone?

The post YWS: How Writers Write – Take 1 appeared first on Be the Cat.

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1. Feed the hungry
2. Shelter the homeless
3. Visit those in prison
4. Clothe the naked
5. Visit the sick
6. Bury the dead

And Father Oliver added an item because of Pepper’s actions in hurting a person of Japanese descent…

7. Befriend Hashimoto

I’m not going to get all spoilery, but the movie got me to thinking about faith and having the faith that can move a mountain … which requires the banishment of all doubt. Having the faith of a mustard seed, or that of a small boy who BELIEVES. How many of us are walking around not doing things because we lack the belief in ourselves to do it? How many of us give up after trying a few times because obviously it was not meant to be?

I am a writer, and the publishing industry is full of NO through all levels. If you’re just starting out and querying, you’re going to hear the word “no”; when you’re on submission to publishers, you’re going to hear the word “no”; when your book is being sent out to garner the coveted starred review, you’re going to hear the word “no”; and ultimately, at some point from the reading public, you’re going to hear the word “no” because not every book is for every person. How many “no”s before your faith is shaken? How many times can you be rejected before you give up? How do you keep your belief intact?

Before Pepper’s father went off to war, the movie did a brilliant job of taking the viewer into the imagination of an eight-year-old boy, where he and his father acted out adventures in the old west, on the high seas, and more, and when the situation became dire, his father would shout, “Do you believe you can do this, partner?”

The question made me smile. While the writing itself is a solitary endeavor for the most part, it takes many, many people to help polish up the work, and those who have someone in their corner egging them on are blessed. We need that someone. And now that my best friend and I are in the midst of starting a business in this industry, the question becomes even more pertinent. Together we have to move that mountain to make sure everything aligns to get the business off the ground. And we’re doing it … one step at a time. Before we took the leap, she asked me the all important question, “Do you believe we can do this?”

I have been well-trained in my response. Despite the odds, despite the obstacles, despite the height of the mountain we have to scale, my answer is always the same …

I believe we can. And I truly do. Giving up is not an option.

What do you believe in?

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This is just a general question. Why is it not acceptable to write my novel in third person omniscient where I know all the thoughts, actions and feelings of all my characters? I majored in literature and spent a lot of time on the classics and was wondering why modern texts don’t use the technique?

Omniscient is the God POV where the narrator is on the outside of the action and can see all and know all. Like they are standing atop a mountain and looking down at the action below.

Studying the classics is fabulous because they give you a background in understanding the nuts and bolts of writing techniques and layering of the craft. Much like if you’re a filmmaker, your studies are incomplete unless you study black and white films. But now that we have the ability and knowledge of how to make films in color (and the advances that have come throughout the years of refining it), the choice is rarely to throw back to the “old days” and film in 100% black and white. And even if someone does make a black and white film today for effect, they are still piggybacking on the advances and enhancements made in the world of color to do so.

But were Charles Dickens or Emily Bronte to turn in one of their works today, it would be summarily rejected. What we would want is something that gives us the flavor of Oliver Twist or Wuthering Heights, but certainly NOT those actual texts.

Not only has the craft of writing advanced since those were written, so has the taste, attention span, and understanding of the reader. Going back to my black and white film example, once we added color to film we brought an entire world of richness to the work that black and white simply doesn’t have. There is a depth of detail that was lacking in the older films and makes the experience “more real” if you will, to the moviegoer. Black and white can be used for effect for a specific purpose, and once we had the ability to use color, it did become an effect. Most notably perhaps in The Wizard of Oz where Kansas was black and white and the world of Oz was in “living color”.

So the classics used omniscient 3rd person, they had long descriptive passages, the TOLD the story to the reader, and generally had long chapters. Why have we made changes in what is accepted in books? Because the reader’s tastes have changed. The act of reading itself has evolved over time. When the classics were written, there were fewer distractions and fewer things available to occupy the time of the reader. Life was lived at a different pace. Television with it’s commercial breaks every 20 minutes didn’t exist, so the attention span of the reader had not yet been modified. Truth of the matter is that we generally have shorter chapters now because we don’t want the reader to stop in the middle of a chapter. There is the potential that we could lose them.

And reader’s have demanded to know MORE about our characters. Omniscient POV while giving the reader more thoughts and feelings from ALL of the characters keeps the reader’s at arms length because they never fully are able to sink into the skin of one particular character. And omniscient POV invites more “telling” to the reader vs. allowing the reader to experience because it automatically creates a distance. In today’s world, the reader wants to be able to crawl inside the skin of the character and experience what is going on from their perspective, they want to identify with that character. Hence the utilization of 1st person, which has become the popular go-to for Young Adult. In Adult writing, we don’t necessarily have to use 1st person, but is more geared to the use of 3rd person limited because they don’t want to get ripped out of the view point all the time and jump from head to head.

While omniscient viewpoint can be used at times for effect, much like black and white in film today, it is generally frowned upon for the entirety of the work because it is a weaker more distant viewpoint. Our intent is to grab the reader and bring them in close. You cannot do that with the omniscient POV.

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As I was getting ready to dive into my writing cave and block all else out, I ran across an article that intrigued and impressed me. It caught my attention because an 8-year-old girl, the same age as my protagonist, Timmy, has developed an anti-bullying bracelet. This I had to see … because I love the way kids minds work, AND bullying is the major theme in Timmy and the Golden Lion Tamarin. What I found was not one child who had followed the trail of what ifs to an amazing conclusion, but FOUR contest winners in the Make the Future contest. Plus, the bonus for me were the 18-year-olds who had won previously and knowing what they had developed. Some truly amazing stuff. Please check out the video below to see the kids and their inventions.

Now it’s time for me to go into stealth mode, become the writing hermit, and knock out another book for our Guardian Angel Animal series. I cannot wait until we can share these books with the world. I’ve put on my armor and I’m ready to dive in.

For photo credit go to Worth1000.com

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Writing is a life skill; something we all need to get through life. The better your writing skills are, the better able you are to improve your standarad of life. Writing is not something you learn for school assignments and never use again once you graduate — it is something you will use for the rest of your life.

From Grammarly.com

I’m a writer, so OF COURSE I think writing skills are important. After all, I have to know the rules in order to break them effectively. But writing isn’t the ONLY job I have, and I use my writing skills on a daily basis for my day job. Those skills have made me a better employee and have helped me rise in stature with my company.

Don’t believe me? Check out what my friends at Grammarly.com have to say about it. (Click the graphic to enlarge it.) The folks at Grammarly.com polled people in the workplace and found that those who had fewer errors in their written work were PAID better. Who doesn’t want more money?

Think about it from an employer’s point of view … wouldn’t you want your employees to sound professional? Wouldn’t you presume that those who made fewer errors while writing were the same employees who paid closer attention to the task at hand? Those who write with fewer errors also tend to sound more professional when speaking, so it relates directly to the first impression you make when meeting someone.

So how do you improve your writing skills? Grammarly has a free grammar checker. Use it for your next writing assignment … see what you think.

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