December 2009
1 post
1 tag
Do not forget
Christmas is now out. Replace with Kyle’s BlueBoy scene. “Christmas, and blah blah blah current beginning.”
Also, when he sneaks out, make sure he makes note of dad’s absence.
November 2009
7 posts
Progress
It was a little harder than I expected to get back into the writing habit. But get back into it I did and am making real progress.
Step one in the process, write the scenes that were too hard or too remote in the first (or half-) draft:
Perhaps, to make up for passing out & missing Kyle’s morning, Boone can cook a meal in the restaurant/their kitchen is too small. roasted chicken, potatoes,...
Self Editing Blog →
iainbroome:
Professional advice on self editing from author/screenwriter/editor John Robert Marlow.
“Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first...”
– (via iwannotowidigdo)
Step one: the day ain't over yet
As I wrote, the last thing I wanted to was lose momentum. If a scene seemed to stall, or if it required research or forced me to delve into minutiae that seemed too tedious at the time, I decided to go on, to leave it and come back once I finished.
My mission on the first read-through was to examine those abandoned scenes and to look for places that needed a little filling in. In William...
“I have a stack of deadlines a mile high, but I think I’m also going to sit...”
– Warren Ellis (via therealkatiewest)
WatchDear god, the awkward
Skip right ahead to 0:45 so you don’t have to see me getting used to myself. Also, I had just finished two hours of lecture and breathing chalk dust. My throat was a little dry.
Oh, and the herky-jerk edit about 16:45? The lights went out because I wasn’t moving around enough. Clearly I am not an Internet professional.
Still, some people had mentioned hearing...
October 2009
5 posts
All scenes must further character or plot
“In writing, you must kill your darlings.” - William Faulkner
One of the first entries in a Google search for this quote is a blog post by writer Wendy Palmer. The shorter version: the quote is misdirected because an author shouldn’t delete writing just because she likes it.
The quote’s not misdirected. The analysis is.
In fiction, every scene must further develop plot...
“In writing, you must kill your darlings”
– William Faulkner
(though Wendy kind of misses the point)
Process plan
I didn’t finish my first novel before I started revisions. I finished about a third of it, went back and edited heavily and then tried to complete the rest of it. In dong so I made two crucial mistakes. I revised too early, and, because I didn’t have that much to revise, I concentrated too hard on minutiae.
I didn’t want to fall into the same trap this time, so made some...
Well, how did I get here?
The best piece of practical writing advice I think anyone ever gave me came from Cory Doctorow. Back when he was European Affairs Coordinator for the EFF and doing whatever else that made him seem like the busiest person ever, I emailed and asked him how he was able to write books and still do all this stuff. He emailed back and said he commits to 250 words a day and tries to write more when he...
“Learn to play your instruments; then get sexy”
– Debbie Harry