Posts Tagged writing a book

Tips for Writers: filing gone wild

Jan 15

Posted by njlindquist in Organization, Tips for writers | No Comments

I probably have close to 1000 file folder. All colours. They're in various places, including a 4-level horizontal filing cabinet, a smaller narrow filing cabinet, drawers in two desks, several Omni carts, several other movable carts with file folder spaces on the top and plastic drawers underneath, and a few file boxes. 

The files are in many categories. Files with stories and articles that have been published. Files with stories and articles that might never be published. Resource files on a variety of topics. Files on various areas necessary for writers. A file for each book of the Bible. Files for contracts and marketing pages and characters in new books I'm working on…. 

But that's not all I have. I also have clear plastic bins. And binders filled with drafts of books and workshops I teach. Get Organized, Get PublishedSome of us are complicated…complex… 

But never fear. There's a book for us that I have found very helpful. It's called Get Organized, Get Published, and it's by Don Aslett, who has written a number of books about cleaning, and Carol Cartaino.

I've read it several times. When it first came out, it let me know I wasn't crazy to want to write 5 or 6 or 20 books at the same time. Later reads taught me other things about how best to organize so that I could work on all those books at one time. I reread it again last fall and it eased the panic I was feeling that I'd never be able to fulfill all my writing goals. One step at a time. One file at a time….

A file folder holds beginning info, but when you start adding pages cut from magazines or newspapers, books, audio tapes, journals, and other materials, it's time to get a small plastic bin and label it with the title of the book, so you have a proper place to put things.

When you're ready to stop gathering information – and that might be a few months after you begin or 20 years later – you can go through the materials and then create file folders to start organizing the book. Maybe a folder per chapter, or maybe a folder each for characters, plot, theme, etc. And then a folder for query letters and proposals, and one for marketing ideas, and so forth.

The point is, whether you're just going to do a little writing – maybe 3 or 4 stories per year – or a lot of writing – say 30 or 40 articles a month or three or four books per year, a little organization will help you get there.

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Continued story – writing a novel

Mar 20

Posted by njlindquist in Writing | 2 Comments

My goal this week was to write 20,000 words.

I know. Optimistic to the max. But I honestly believed I could write that many words if I really got into it. 

The reality? As of right now, I’ve written 4,605. And I wrote all of them Monday – Wednesday. Nothing yesterday even though there was no reason for me not to write. Just too many scattered things leaving my brain scattered all over the place. No focus.

It’s March break – I should be taking the grandkids out for a while. We need to get ready to do a whole raft of new publicity for Hot Apple Cider. Who’ll do it if I don’t?

We’re still working on organizing Write! Canada and there’s a lot of stuff I ought to be doing and it keeps floating through my brain even though I really don’t want to think about it.

Other things flit through my mind, too. Mostly the "I shoulds" or the "we need tos" in conjunction with The Word Guild. Last night we booked my flights to Winnipeg (taping for It’s a New Day) and Saskatoon (Write! Saskatoon) for May. Now I should be connecting with people and making arrangements for places to stay and maybe some coffee or lunch appointments. Sigh. I like doing the stuff – just not making the arrangements.

This morning I booked a room for Missionfest so we can stay in the area instead of driving so much. And I had to change bedding and wash and all that stuff. My son needs bookcases.

Spring is coming. Changing some of my clothes to lighter things. Getting rid of my spaceheater.

Now I’m thinking about the summer and fall.  Should be teaching my workshops in Western Canada.  Willing to do them. Just not wanting to have to do the planning. At least, not when I’m supposed to be writing a novel.

Why am I writing a novel again? Particularly one for which I have no agent and no editor waiting for it. Okay, maybe I have an editor who would take a look at it, but there’s no guarantee at all that the editor would like what I write.

And I’m long past the idea of writing what someone else wants me to write – if I was ever there. Okay, maybe if there was a contract with a lot of money and promotion waiting. Then I might consider it.

Nah. I don’t think so. I just have all these books in my head and the characters are beginning to sound like a mob scene. I think I can hear them chanting, "Bring me to life! Tell my story! You can’t keep putting it off! Now is the time! Write about me!"

Can you tell I’m reading a Neil Gaiman book? Found it in the room where son number 3 sleeps when here and not working. He and son #2 read these books and then I find them and they drive me crazy because I want my books to be found in people’s rooms all over the place.

But first I need to write them. And then I need to figure out this whole marketing thing which pretty well eludes me.

Oh, I understand it and I can tell other people what to do quite proficiently, but when it’s about my writing, my tongue becomes sludge lead and my brain turns to water.

So I need to just write the stories and not think about the rest. The key is the writing. Without it there’s nothing to work with.

So I have to focus on getting them all out of my head. All the voices only I can hear. Before they become silent. After I take my granddaughter out to lunch.

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Are you writing a novel?

Mar 31

Posted by njlindquist in writing fiction | 1 Comment

I'm always astonished by the number of people who are writing novels.

And the ages, too! After speaking in a church a few weeks ago, I had three teens talk to me about the books they were writing, and a mother talk to me about her teenage daughter's writing.

There seems to be a strong need for people to tell the stories they have running around in their heads – whether they are true or fiction.

Of course, I've long believed that it can be easier to tell the truth through fiction than through nonfiction!

This year, I was one of the fiction judges for The Word Guild's Best New Canadian Author contest. That meant I had 21 manuscript to read and judge.

Plus, since there's a critique option, and 16 of the people had paid for the critique, I had to do a lot more than think about whether this manuscript was better than that one: I had to decide why this one worked and that one didn't, or why this one worked but that one worked a little better.

I had a checklist to put down marks. On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was this plot? Out of five, how did this dialogue work?

But even that wasn't quite enough for me. What does a 5 like look compared to a 6? Why does this get a 7 and not an 8?

I realized that I needed some kind of system that would allow me to measure the manuscript, not against itself or the others that had been entered, but against the best – the books I consider great. I eventually came up with a system where I started with some great books and figured out what a 10 or a 5 meant in light of then. Once I had my "standards" in place, it was much easier to read the manuscripts and allocate marks.

Why am I telling you this? Because for the next few weeks I'm going to share part of my system with you in the hopes that it might give you some ideas as you write or edit your fiction.

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Top 10 reasons why you should write 25 short stories before you write a novel

Jan 22

Posted by njlindquist in get to know the writer in you, writing a book, writing fiction, your first book | 5 Comments

Ed Hoch passed away on January 17th at the age of 77. For those who don’t recognize his name, Ed was one of the pre-eminent short story writers of all time. He wrote close to 1,000 short stories, most of them in the puzzle mystery genre. For over 35 years, he had at least one story in every issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He was certainly one of only a handful of authors in recent years able to make a living strictly by selling short stories. Those who knew him found him to be a very kind, likable man. Having spoken to him briefly and seen him on panels at mystery conventions, I would add that he was quite informative as well.

I speak to a lot of aspiring writers, and I find that a majority of them want to write a novel (or are already writing one). In Ed’s honor, I thought I’d list my top ten reasons why short stories are a better choice – especially for a new writer.

10. Writing a novel can take a year or more. A short story can be written in a short time – a month, a week, maybe even a day. You can write a lot of short stories in the time it would take to write a novel.

9. The most important part of any great novel or short story is the characters. When you write a novel, you’re stuck a long, long time with a few characters. You may find you don’t like them. Or you may find they don’t work well for you. If you write short stories, you can invent new characters for every story. You can try a lot of different kinds of people. Or aliens, animals, even rocks that talk…

8. Every story and every novel need great openings. When you write a novel, you get one opening. You might end up rewriting your opening fifty times, and then throw it out in the end. When you write short stories, you can try a variety of different kinds of openings and see what you like and don’t like.

7. When you write a novel, you get one plot-line. If it doesn’t work, too bad. When you write a number of short stories, you can try a variety of different genres, different kinds of plots, and different resolutions.

6. If a short story isn’t working, you can just toss it into the trash without feeling you’ve wasted too much time and energy. If a novel isn’t working, it’s a lot of investment to throw away.

5. A short story can later grow into a novel if you find you really like the characters and see that the plot could grow. You might even use the original short story as a scene or chapter in your book.

5. Most people write to say something they feel is of importance, whether it’s about their faith, saving the environment, or encouraging everyone to practice safe sex. Because new writers often don’t know how to send a message without having it take over, some novels become very little more than propaganda. Writing a number of short stories, each with a tiny aspect of your message, will not only help you learn how to include a message in an acceptable way, but also help you find markets for your work and readers with similar interests.

4. Some people are natural short story writers. They have tons of ideas, like to work quickly and finish things up, and don’t have the patience to spend a lot of time on one thing. You can read what Ed said about why he wrote short stories here. On the flip side, some novels are really short stories with a whole lot of unnecessary padding. Better to learn how to trim and streamline than how to add unnecessary verbiage.

3. Unless you’re really, really famous, more people will read a short story in a magazine or on an internet site than will ever read your novel.

2. Writing a novel before you’ve written some short stories is like marrying the first person you date. Usually, it’s better to meet a few people before you make a commitment. Writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres will help you hone in on both what you enjoy and what you write best.

1. It’s possible to spend a great deal of time and energy writing a novel without learning a great deal about the craft of writing. Time and effort alone don’t equate with gaining skill.

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God told me to write a book!

Jan 8

Posted by njlindquist in Writing | No Comments

What you choose to write is, of course, between you and God. But one of the biggest mistakes I see new writers making is thinking that whatever is on their heart absolutely must be published as a book, and the sooner the better.

This is problematic for several reasons.

The main difficulty is that if you have little or no writing experience, you may simply not be ready to write the book yet. While there are a few people who’ve produced something really good on their first attempt, developing excellent writing skills normally involves a learning process. I’ve seen quite a few books and other things that “God told” someone to write that were – well, let’s just say they weren’t ready to be published and leave it at that.

Think about it. If I believe God is telling me to become a school teacher, I can’t just start walk into a classroom and start teaching – I have to first go to university and get a teaching degree of some sort. Or I may believe I should become a doctor, and I can just see myself helping people. But first, I have to go to medical school and then do an internship and a residency…

Writing a book is actually a very complicated undertaking; one that involves not only writing ability, but also organizational skills, knowledge of the market, understanding of the publishing industry, and the ability to promote oneself effectively.

So, while your ultimate goal may be to write a book, it’s a great idea to kickstart the process by joining writers’ organizations, reading books and blogs about writing, and then writing some short articles or stories on the topics that interest you. Ideally, you should have those articles critiqued, first by your peers and then by experts. Then send them out to editors of appropraite publications. As you do all this, you are slowly working yourself up to writing that book. Kind of like getting a degree.

Not only that, but creating articles out of some of the ideas for the book and selling them will actually make book editors more interested in you. And the articles can possibly be used later as chapters for your book.

The main thing is that you take your time and do a good job and not rush something into print that simply isn’t ready yet. Yes, there are all kinds of companies out there ready and willing to take your words and produce a book with your name on it. But after the initial burst of excitement, reality usually sets in, and you realize you’re in over your head. There are always people offering get rich quick schemes, too – but I hope you wouldn’t use them either.

There’s a second reason why you shouldn’t rush to write that book – I’ll talk about it tomorrow.

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You've written a book: now what?

Feb 9

Posted by njlindquist in self-publishing, writing a book, your first book | 1 Comment

Most of the time when new writers tell me they’ve written a book, what they actually mean is that they’ve completed a first draft of a book. And if you know what you’re doing, you don’t rush off to find a publisher for a first draft.

What you do next is let it sit for a week or so while you work on something totally different, and then sit down to read your book in editor mode. Basically, you try to pretend you’ve never seen it before, and you do an objective critique of it.

If your book is fiction, and you haven’t read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King; The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M Bickham: Revision by David Michael Kaplan; Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern; or most of the books in the Writers Digest Elements of Fiction series, I’d suggest you go to your local store or join Writers’ Digest book club and buy as many as you can afford and read them first.

If your book is non-fiction, look for On Writing Well by William Zinsser, A Writer’s Time by Kenneth Atchity; The 28 Biggest Writing Blunders (And How to Avoid Them) by William Noble, or one of the many books on specific kinds of nonfiction from Writer’s Digest or other publishers. Since each chapter of many non-fiction books may be viewed as a single entity, books on writing articles could also be helpful. Eg. Writing from the Heart by Marjorie Holmes; the Elements of Article Writing Series from Writer’s Digest.

At this time, you also need to refine your target audience so you know exactly who you’re writing the book for.

Next, you write a second draft. How you do that is up to you. Some people just start writing again from scratch. It depends on how much it needs to be changed. What I do is save everything I have as a new file and then start taking it apart and moving things around and rewriting sections, and do forth. I like to think of that first draft as the clay I need to work with in order to create a masterpiece.

I look first for big problems or issues, and ignore most of the little things like spelling and grammar and so forth. Focus on the plot – does it work – and the characters – do they feel real? Or in non-fiction, are the chapters in the right sequence? Does it flow? Have I missed any key areas? What research still needs to be done to make sure everything is accurate?

And when you have that done, you do it all over again and again, as needed. You likely want to get a critique from another writer or two, or a really knowledgeable reader. At some point, you may want to pay for a really good editor to do a substantive edit (more about that next time.)

When you’re satisfied with the plot and the characters in your novel, then you look at the description, the dialogue, the accuracy of the details, and the time sequences.

In your non-fiction, check out the flow of your ideas, make sure all the relevant points are there, look at the illustrations you’ve used, refine your transitions, check that there is something for the reader to take way, and make sure every aspect is good.

Keep refining until you get down to the last bit – the spelling and punctuation, and so forth.

I revised Shaded Light 17 times. True, it’s a very complex book with multiple plot-lines and 14 points of view. My other books have been revised more like 7 or 8 times. Well, Friends Like These took maybe 10 times. My non-fiction books took probably 5 or 6 times.

The bottom-line is that you aren’t just “writing a book” in the sense that once all your thoughts on paper you’re finished. Even if you have done some editing as you wrote (something I don’t encourage), you still need to work with the end product. What you’re actually doing is crafting and molding and shaping it it so it says exactly what you want it to say and so that every single word you leave in has a function.

Yeah, I know. Sounds like work. But, actually, writing a book IS work. As the old saying goes, the idea – the “inspiration” is only a small part of the entire process. The other 90% involves “perspiration”.

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