The Most Important Questions When Reading Like a Writer

One of the best ways to learn about writing is read like a writer. That is, read for craft, take the writing apart, and be aware of the choices the writer made and their effect on readers.

Reading like a writer is not simply reading... Image "Reading & Writing" (CC BY 2.0) by M.Markus.

This is often a difficult change from reading for pleasure and responding with emotion. It is a more active (versus reactive) form of reading, and it requires asking questions of the words on the page. Here, I have provided a quick guide on how to form those questions. This information is extracted and condensed from The Write Practice because I can't be trusted to know how to read like a writer on my own.

The Trend of Terrible Words

There is a message that I need to get out to the world: We are destroying the beauty of written English. I'm not talking about using impact as a verb. I don't care about that. I mean, festoon was a noun for two centuries before it became a verb. I'm pretty happy with a lot of nouns that have become verbs. Language evolves. 

I don't care about business jargon or self-help talk, either. And I won't even get into using literal as figurative. I'm talking about something more insidious.

Let me explain before I identify the problem. Two words, in particular, stick in my craw because I hear them all the time: historical and inspirational. These two words have nearly replaced historic and inspiring in popular culture, and pop culture is where we get used to using words. Once we grow accustomed to their use in everyday use, the devolution of the written language begins.

Image: Gavin Baker "Captcha" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Naufragio

You may not think these words are too bad or a sign of the decline of English, but they clutter the language with extra letters, sounds, and syllables that writers don't need when they seek clarity.

Is one suffix not enough? Do more syllables make people feel smarter?

I know historical and inspirational are actual words, but epidemical is supposedly a word, too. We never use it because it's an adjective, just like epidemic. So when something becomes widespread

Getting to Writers' Conferences

My novel, Leave the Frigging Marshmallows, has been in process for a while. Years.

Novel notes. Photo by Robin Israel.

Part of this is because I question myself. Part of it is because I want it to be great. And part is that it is just difficult to find my way through a character-driven novel with multiple complex characters and their individual stories without any real instruction beyond other novels.

I can read all the books on craft in the world, but they never seem to fully apply to my characters and their stories. They often help me expand and enrich my characters more, and I'm grateful for that, but it often complicates things further. Often, books on writing focus on plot and structure and, when I impose such things on my characters, they fight back and story becomes forced. I really want to find a way through this messy thing.

That's the reason I started attending writers' conferences last summer. I had avoided them for a while because I thought of them as pitch sessions and I wasn't ready to pitch anything, but then I started

The Most Exciting Literary Time of the Year

The Tournament of Books is not considered a great prize and there is no monetary award, just a rooster, but I contend that it is the most exciting literary time of the year--better than the Pulitzer, the Man Booker, the National Book Award, and even the Nobel.

Woohoo! Image: "Ride a Cock horse!" (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) by rubyblossom.

All those other awards are given under a shroud and with just a few lines of justification. Spend a few days in anticipation while waiting for the announcement, yeah. Get a momentary thrill, sure. Question the decision process, yes. But a day or two later, the discussion ends. The Tournament of Books is not like that--not at all.

Stuck in the Middle? Getting Past the Middle: A Novel Project, Step 2

If you recall, way back before Christmas I challenged myself and you to finish writing the second half of the first draft of a novel by the end of January. I said I was going to check in a couple times a week.

I did not check in.

The first exercise I gave you worked really well for me, and I was busy working on my book. But now we have about a week left and I want to continue with the plan, because I think it’s quite good.

Too busy to blog! (Image: Chris Brown "Work" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by zoonabar.)

This next exercise actually comes from Caroline Leavitt, author of at least 10 novels—so it seems like she

Four Chambers Press is looking for eight local authors...

Four Chambers Press is looking for eight local authors to respond to featured art installations at this year's Canal Convergence Water + Art + Light in partnership with Scottsdale Public Art February 24 - 26, 2017 at the Scottsdale Waterfront. Open to all literary genres, performance styles, and forms. Authors will receive a $100 stipend (and a $20 gift card from Changing Hands). Interested individuals can learn more and apply online at http://fourchamberspress.com/canal-convergence­. The deadline for

Stuck in the Middle? Getting Past the Middle: A Novel Project, Step 1

Stuck in the middle of your novel? Start again here.

When the path through your novel becomes obscured... (Image courtesy of Dianne Lacourciere "When Life Is Foggy" (Public Domain) by Artistic-touches)

Remind yourself of your novel's story question. Don’t go looking up your notes from the past to see what you wrote way back when you first started this project. Write what you see the moral question as

Getting Past the Middle: An Invitation to a Novel Project

I can start novels all day. I’m full of ideas, full of intriguing starts, lines, scenes, dialogue. I started writing my first book when I was 12. I also started writing my second book when I was 12. The problem has always been getting through the second half to the end.

Words. (sigh.) Image: Jim Pennucci "Words" (CC BY 2.0) by pennuja

I did finish one novel. It didn’t make much sense, in terms of traditional storytelling, but I was young (like 30), full of myself, and not really sure how to revise this tangle of words and scenes and

Writing about writing is like writing about air...

...or rather, it's like air itself. You know, like we barely notice air—other than in certain circumstances: when the fragrance of orange blossoms fills the air in spring, or when it's misty outside and light reflects off the fine droplets floating in the atmosphere, or when there is a sudden drop in temperature, or a million other things that might draw our attention to the air around us for a moment. Most of the time we hardly notice we're breathing it, and just like that, we shouldn't notice writing much, except for a few moments of beauty or strangeness or extremity.

So when I spend so much time writing about what is, essentially, air, I get a little fatigued. It's like walking around noting every inhale and every exhale and every shift in the breeze and the smell of the kitty litter. Yes, it's valuable to be aware, but I have other things to concern myself with. I mean, I have to change the kitty litter. I have things on my mind.

The Ratio of Scene to Narration

I recently had someone tell me this: "The balance between scene and narration is supposed to be 75% to 25%, actually."

As if novels can be written by numbers.

Notions such as this annoy me.

Being reductive is annoying. Image "Annoyed or Sleepy?" 
(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Doug McGr.

I understand the need to try to figure out writing a novel when new to

A Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Revising the First Two Chapters of a Novel

Because the beginning of the novel sets up the rest of the book and, in a way, nearly dictates the everything that happens after it, I've been busy at work trying to revise the first two chapters of my novel. 

I'm pretty sure I have it all figured out.

There is a lot going into the process. This is a character-driven novel and the reader needs to connect to at least one of the characters and be at least interested in the others, while also having an idea of where things could go. Even if that's not where they go, the reader should be able to look back and recall that what happened was evident from the beginning.

At least that's what I'm going for at this moment.

Learn the simple steps to revising two chapters.   Image: "four eyes" (CC BY 2.0) by istolethetv

Today, I am sharing with you my easy 65-step process of re-writing the first two chapters of a character-driven novel so that the mystery behind revising will be revealed.

REVISION ≠ EDITING

Revising is not the same as editing.

Many writers see the word revision as “to see again,” and then they re-read their manuscript for consistency, for errors, for overused words. They re-read for cliches and pacing. This is hardly more than editing.

Revision isn't just seeing again. Image: "Image from page 21 of ”Traité de chirur" (Public Domain) by Internet Archive Book Images

These writers are missing a key step: re-visioning.

How to Revise a Novel—Step 3

In Step 2, we looked at how to use Larry Brooks' 4-part system for revising a shrunken version of the novel. Today we'll talk about utilizing the work you did there to manage a revision with multiple storylines.

4 story parts / 4 colors

7 Residencies You Still Have Time to Apply For

Need a little time away to finish up your manuscript? Will a month in the woods spark your creative mind? These residencies offer writers a chance to step away from the daily grind and get to work without distractions.

Hambidge Creative Residency Program

Duration: Mid-February through April 

Who’s Eligible: Writers in any genre

Location: Hambidge, Georgia
Deadline: September 15, 2015

Go rustic in Sheridan, Wyoming. Image: "Google Street View - Pan-American Trek -" (CC BY 2.0) by kevin dooley

How to Revise a Novel--Step 2

Last time, in Step 1, I took you through the process of shrinking down a novel and looking at it in three acts.

I had mixed feelings about this because I already felt I had a good idea that my draft disintegrated into a hodge-podge of random scenes in the third act. This was solidly upheld in the shrunken three-act process. It was useful in some ways, but I wanted it to be more useful.

I wanted an epiphany.
I wanted a miracle.
I wanted the secret to fixing a novel.

Logically, I know there isn't a magic pill that will solve my novel's problems, but it doesn't stop me from searching. I want to know something I don't already know.

So this is the next thing I did with my shrunken novel.

Okay. I didn't shrink it this small.   Image: "The Worlds Smallest Dictionary" (CC BY-NC 2.0) by practicalowl

7 Reasons to Learn to Love Revising

I meet lots of writers who say they hate revising. Others have told me they just write a draft and give it to an editor. Done.

I don't understand. Revising is writing. Therefore, if you love writing, you also love revising. Yes, it's a complex and difficult love, but it's just that which brings the greatest reward.

Love takes care. Image "banksy - peaceful hearts doctor - 3" (CC BY 2.0) by Eva Blue

And because I don't want you to miss out on this amazing love, I think we should talk about the reasons a writer needs to buckle down and commit his heart and soul to revising his novel.

How to Revise a Novel—Step 1

If you're anything like me, your first draft is a giant mess.

Chapters? Who needs chapters? No. I don't have chapters yet. Image: "Adventures of Captain Greenland (table o" (CC BY 2.0) by earlynovelsdatabase

Before I began the revision process in mid-June, I knew I had out-of-order scenes. I didn't even have chapters. I knew that, as I pushed characters through a plot, they changed. No amount of planning prepared me for how my characters changed―even though I go through various revisions of character building and multiple character exercises throughout the process of writing so that I can understand them better. I just don't know what will come up. I knew my plot got messy and I became disjointed as a writer near the end. I knew I was not even close to committed to the end; it was mechanical, to get there and say, This draft is done.

I knew there were so many issues... so so many.

8 Reasons Why Good Books Are Rejected

Your novel is brilliant. You know it is.

So why aren't any agents picking it up?

This is not a post about delusions of the quality of one's writing. It's about why you send your book out to 10 agents and another 10, and then 10 more, and you still haven't gotten a nibble.

It takes sending a book out to more agents than you would imagine before you find the right one. And that's what it's about: finding the right person, the one who will be as committed to your book as you are.

You're not represented ...yet. Persevere. Image "rejected" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by ☻☺

5 Ways Your Dialogue Tags Suck: Dialogue Diatribe #2

Dialogue tags shouldn't be difficult. Trust me. As an editor who reads the work of new writers, dialogue tags can get really screwed up and entirely disrupt the flow of a story.

Don't take this lightly.

In my last post on dialogue, I explained the mechanics of dialogue. Today I want to talk about the tags themselves.

Make your tags invisible. Image "Memorias de un hombre invisible" 
(CC BY-NC 2.0) by 'J' Jose Maria Perez Nuñez

The thing with dialogue tags is that when people begin writing fiction, they often begin to see that they are writing he said and she said and it feels like a lot of repetition. As writers, we're taught to avoid using the same words too often, so we want to fix this problem. Unfortunately, in attempting to fix dialogue tags, many writers wind up with bad ones.

The Courage to be Average Before Brilliant

I'm writing to you today from the Pima Writers' Conference in Tucson,Arizona. The ice broke on the Santa Cruz River on Friday. There is no water in the river; it just means the temperature reached over 100 degrees for the first time this year. It's been that way for two days now and it'll be that way today, too. Ugh. Take me to a writing oasis!

Refresh the writing soul. Image "Oasis and Wonderland" (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Dean Terry