Finding New Chapters While Revising
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by jpstanleyI'm deep into the first revision of my work in progress. Quartile one is complete. Then I read chapter ten. Honestly, I found it a trifle boring. Somehow it didn't seem so boring when I wrote it—or the first time I read it. S0 I decided to write a whole new chapter ten.
The original chapter ten had quite a bit of exposition. I'm still working most of the same information in, but I'm trying to do it while having interesting stuff happen. Interesting stuff is good. Chapter ten takes place years after chapter nine, so I need to help the reader get their bearings—I just don't want to put them to sleep in the process. And I think I'm accomplishing that with the new chapter ten. I think the new chapter is going to lead to another new chapter between chapters eleven and twelve. I am hoping that won't throw off the pacing of the rest of this section of the book.
Writing is more fun than revising—for me—so this is a nice break from the revision slog. The toughest part of the process is fighting the powerful urge to just get this thing finished. I want to get it out to my test readers and start working on that query letter. But then I tell myself to relax and take my time. There's a lot of work to do. You don't turn a turd into a cleaner, less smelly turd over-night. Patience.
Spark a Fire
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by Austin KleonFor a while now, I've used two Moleskine notebooks—one is a full-size lined notebook for any notes relating to my work in progress, the other a pocket-size lined notebook for anything else. My favorite things to write in that notebook are what I call sparks. Sparks can be anything that tickles my brain and give me a story idea or character idea or setting idea or anything else really. It's quite enjoyable and it happens at the oddest times—usually when my mind is occupied with something else—probably not all that abnormal.
Here are a few examples of some recent sparks: an Irish folk song sung by a Boston punk band; a creepy coffe-shop guy's tattoo; an article title about Iran's Achilles heel; a song lyric about the end of winter; and using a piece of rebar to make holes in the soil for corn seeds. See the connection between those things? Me either. Which makes me even more paranoid about being away from my notebooks for any amount of time.
Will any of these sparks lead to anything of substance? Maybe not, but it gets me closer to the mode I want to be in where my mind is creating every waking moment. It's not easy because life conspires against it. I've got a full-time job that is not related to writing and requires a significant amount of brain power to do successfully. And I've got a family that wants to spend time with me for some reason. One big step in the right direction is getting used to ignoring people's reactions when I stop whatever I am doing and start furiously writing in a notebook. When I used to take a lot of pictures I was never able to develop the photographer's absence of embarrassment. Since I made the decision that I am a writer—and not just trying to write on the side—I feel no shame, no embarrassment, nothing. I consider that progress.
—I just thought of something. Where's my notebook?
Adventures in Editing
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by wili_hybridSo the latest new experience in my writing journey is editing my novel. It's not my first time editing—I worked on a short story while I let the novel age—but it is my first time editing something as lengthy as a novel.
The first thing I've found is that the process takes a lot longer than I expected. When I wrote the first draft, my goal was to get the story out of my head as fast as I could and not worry about writing the perfect sentence—that is, assuming I am actually capable of writing something approaching the perfect sentence. Now that I'm editing, my goal is to write those perfect sentences, and I am coming to understand the agony of sweating out every single word.
While writing the first draft I thought I could stare at a blank page for a long time. It turns out, I can stare at a page with words on it even longer. I've been working on it for two weeks and I've only revised two scenes. If I continue at this pace, it will never be finished. But I don't want to rush through any of it. I really do want every sentence to be as good as possible. If it takes years, then so be it. The best part is that I'm truly enjoying the process. That may change after editing a hundred scenes though.
Another complication I've encountered is tracking progress. While I wrote the first draft, I could easily track my word count. With editing, the smallest unit of progress I can track is a whole scene. So if I run out of writing time and I've revised less than one scene—which is common—I come away feeling like a loafer—which I kind of am.
I refuse to allow my slacker tendencies to derail this dream.
Notebook + Pen = Good Times
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by Amir K.I never know when an idea will strike—whether the idea is for a new story, an interesting setting or character, something I want to add or change in my WIP—you get the idea. For this reason, I try to have a notebook and pen with me at all times. I have Evernote on my iPod Touch, and I'll use that in a pinch, but I find I'm able to get the idea to flow more freely from a pen—and typing on a small keyboard like an iPod Touch gives me an itch in the back of my brain that I can't scratch.
The other day my thinking turned to a field where a battle takes place in the novel I'm revising. It's a mowed field with a large gathering of boulders in the middle. I started to think about why a field might be that way. Thankfully, I had my notebook with me. Before I knew it I had written the back-story of the field and its owner. It's something that will never show up in the story, but having the background information will allow me to tell a better, richer story—at least I think it will.
Even if it has no effect on the quality or content of the novel, I had fun coming up with the story. I wrote as fast as I could and still had trouble keeping up with my brain. I found myself in a writing zone I love to get in and wish I could make happen on command. It occurred while I sat quietly, having nothing with me other than my notebook and pen. I had no place to be and nothing to accomplish. Perhaps my mind was forced to fill the void and do something useful. Further experiments to follow.
Do you have a reliable method to get yourself into the zone?
Recent Read: Rabbit, Run
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by SapphireblueI recently read Rabbit, Run by John Updike. I found his writing to be captivating. But while his technique and prose were magnificent, I can't really say I enjoyed the book.
As the father of a two-year-old, the scenes where Rabbit's son wondered where Rabbit had gone struck a painful chord with me. I know how much Gabe misses me when I am gone only for a day of work. I don't even want to think about how he would feel if I were gone for months. And thinking about that made it an uncomfortable book to read. I wish I had read it before having children. Then I might have appreciated the story more.
I'm still glad I read the book, though. Reading the work of a master like Updike can't help but make me a better writer.
First Draft Complete – What do I do now?
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Photo by rich115I sat at Panera the other day having typed the final period of the first draft of my novel and thought, what now? It felt incredible to be finished. I looked around to see if anyone was giving me a thumbs up or applauding—no one was—what an outrage. With the expected feeling of accomplishment was an unexpected pang of loss. For six months I've worked on this story almost every day—put all my effort into it—been obsessed with it. What am I going to do with myself?
First things first—I'm going to take some time away from the manuscript (calling it a manuscript makes it sound more impressive—you may use that trick). I think I'll be able to read it more critically if I'm not so close to it. I find if I read something I've just written, I can't see any other way to write it. I'm hoping to avoid that.
During that time off—probably a month or two—I think I'll do some reading on the craft of writing. I'm looking at Elements of Fiction Writing - Description by Monica Wood and Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field. While I'm doing that, I still need to be writing so I'm going to work on a short story and see how that goes.
At the beginning of 2009 I made it a goal to write one chapter of a novel. That goal was neglected and forgotten until July when I found the story idea I had been looking for. For years, I've kept a list of story ideas as well as notes on the ideas. The idea that eventually became the story I've written was developed over a month of note taking. It changed drastically from day to day until it finally got to the point where I started writing. And once I started writing, the story just kept coming. My worries that I would be unable to get past 10,000 words and 20,000 words faded as I found myself at 40,000 words, 50,000 words, and beyond.
As I got used to the writing process, I found what worked best for me was getting the story out as quickly as possible—not worrying about writing the perfect prose. Once I started doing that, the words came much more easily. We'll see how I feel about it when I start editing. Vonnegut mentions this method of writing as well as the inverse method in Timequake.
Tellers of stories with ink on paper, not that they matter anymore, have been either swoopers or bashers. Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn't work. Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they're done they're done.
We won't talk about the next paragraph where he mentions that most men are bashers and most women are swoopers.
I'm excited to begin editing. It will be my first experience with editing a work of this length. I expect it will take as long or longer to edit than it did to write. I'm also feeling some measure of dread at the prospect of going back and reading the draft. I worry it will be so bad I will be scarred for life from the horror of beholding it. I don't think it's quite that bad, but you know how it is when you read your own work, it's like trying to judge your children's athletic ability or intelligence—of course they're the best athlete/smarted kid in the world.
I've been neglecting this site while I was working on the first draft—at least that was my excuse. I don't have that excuse now, so I'm hoping to have more frequent posts. If my past record is any indication, more frequent posts are unlikely. People who can generate a high quantity of content and make it interesting and/or useful are amazing to me. Anyone can vomit out gobs of boring self-indulgent drivel—even me. If I work hard at it, perhaps it's a skill I can develop like an exercised muscle. And if I'm the only one who reads no one will get hurt either way.
Cheers.
The Semicolon Humbled by the Mighty
Posted by Matt Uhrich
![[addio] Kurt](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/215/456540226_de8d049e5f_m.jpg)
Photo by [noone]I’m reading Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a strange book, but I'm finding it funny and interesting and absolutely worth anyone's time. I love reading just about anything he writes. He is so entertaining and so readable—which can't be said for most luminaries of literary fiction. It really doesn’t matter what he is writing about. He is deservedly considered one of the greatest American writers ever.
He gives his opinion of semicolons towards the end of the Timequake.
Let me note that Kilgore Trout and I have never used semicolons. They don’t do anything, don’t suggest anything. They are transvestite hermaphrodites.
Ponder that for a while.
Semicolon!
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Have you ever been reading a novel and part way through noticed a quirk in the author’s style of writing? And then you can’t help but notice it every time it happens. It can be distracting, can’t it?
I’ve started reading novels with the Kindle application for the iPod Touch. I discovered it’s a surprisingly good platform for reading. Since the iPod Touch is back-lit, it is especially useful for reading in the dark. Amazon has also been giving away quite a few Kindle books—often the first book of a series.
The book I’m currently reading on the iPod is His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik. I’m about half-way through and I am enjoying it quite a bit. Once done, I’m sure I’ll continue reading the series. So in this case giving me the first taste for free will pay off.
There is one oddity I’ve noticed in this book—semicolons. I have never seen so many semicolons in any other book in my life. In fact, I believe after reading half of this book, that I’ve seen more semicolons in it than in every other book I've ever read combined. I’m sure they are all being used properly, but it is unusual. And I can’t help but notice almost every semicolon and think to myself, “semicolon!” If Novik goes a whole paragraph without one, I find myself thinking about that.
I present you with an example paragraph:
Every feeling protested against the sacrifice of this dream; yet under the circumstances, he was not even sure he could honorably make Edith an offer which she might feel obliged to accept. And there was no question of courting someone else in her place; no woman of sense and character would deliberately engage her affections on an aviator, unless she was of the sort who preferred to have a complacent and absent husband leaving his purse in her hands, and to live apart from him even while he was in England; such an arrangement did not appeal to Laurence in the slightest.
Three in one paragraph. Outstanding!
This has made me realize how developing tendencies as an author can create distractions for the reader. Even something as small as a punctuation mark can cause a distraction as it did in this case. Remembering this is especially important for writers who are not as skilled as Novik: the book is good enough and interesting enough that I don’t mind the distraction.
That leaves me with two choices, become such a good writer that readers are willing to ignore my distracting quirks or avoid the distracting quirks all-together. Long term, I’m hoping for option one; short term, I’ll do my best to go with option two.
Will you look at that? I used a semicolon. And there is a slim probability I used it correctly. I’ve still got a long way to go to become a master semicolonist.
Good day to you and semicolon!
Novel First Lines
Posted by Matt Uhrich
Inexplicable Book Cover
The first line of a novel is the most important line in the most important paragraph on the most important page. Sol Stein writes:
Some years ago I was involved in an informal study of the behavior of lunch-hour browsers in mid- Manhattan bookstores. In the fiction section, the most common pattern was for the browser to read the front flap of the book’s jacket and then go to page one. No browser went beyond page three before either taking the book to the cashier or putting the book down and picking up another to sample.
That was written almost 15 years ago. I’m sure people have gotten even more impatient when decide whether they should buy a novel. It’s quite a bit of pressure. It’s also why writers look at the first lines of their favorite novels to provide inspiration.
One of my all-time favorite books is Treason by Orson Scott Card. It’s actually a revised version of a previously published novel named A Planet Called Treason (which I've never actually read). It being one of my favorites is the only reason I have chosen it for an example of a good first line. Here it is, It gets the job done well.
I was the last to know what was happening to me. Or at least I was the last to know that I knew.
Reading it, I want to know what the speaker now knows and what he now knows he now knows. And look at that cover! It has a guy in a space suit walking to a space ship and he's walking with a cane. Cool! Except nowhere in the novel are there any space suits or space ships–there may be a cane but I don't remember. Did the artist even read the book’s blurb? I hope to one day have to ask my publisher why there is a dragon fighting a spaceship in front of a destroyed city on the cover of my novel which contains none of those things.
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For a good laugh and many fine examples of horrible science-fiction and fantasy covers, check out Good Show Sir.
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This is my new favorite commercial.
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Reflections on 10,000 Words
Posted by Matt Uhrich
I sit here having just passed the 10,000 word mark and I’m feeling pretty good. When I first began this enterprise, I wasn’t sure how difficult I would find it to write the number of words necessary to fill an entire novel. I worried that I would finish the story and discover I didn’t have much more than a short story.
In college, one of my biggest challenges was being able to write enough to satisfy the page requirements of papers I had been assigned. I had to use all the formatting tricks available to fill the five or ten or twenty pages demanded by the professor. I’d increase the margins, increase the spacing between the letters, use slightly more than double spacing, and of course use the Courier New font. How I loved that font.
Photo by robotographyWhen I read what other authors have to say about their writing process, most of them write much more than they are planning to keep in the final version. Then they slice and dice to get to their desired word count. I hope I don’t have the opposite problem.
10,000 words has gotten me through four chapters and I’ve I still got a bit to go before my first major plot point. I’d like to have another 10,000 words or more before I get there. There’s a chance I’ll struggle doing that. I might have to go back and add more detail to a few of the scenes. I tried to avoid having too much detail—maybe too well. Books describing every tree in the forest in exacting detail annoy me and I often end up putting them down—usually for good.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the writing I’ve done is how the words have come more easily the more I’ve written. I had read that writing improves with practice and I believe I’m finding that to be true. Here’s to hoping the improvement continues.
Aloha.