The importance of having others read your work

It is important to have someone else read your work, I cannot stress this enough. If I hadn't let my sister read my story I’d still have a magical horse named Klit, I didn't see a problem with his name, but my dirty-minded sister did. He's now named Kelet. 

I am not talking about catching grammar mistakes, though I did have a couple funny ones, sweetie was spelled sweaty and embrace was embarrass, my computer couldn't tell the difference.

I have read my story so many times now, it is hard for me to see some of the simple mistakes, like my bad habit of writing teeny tiny sentences and starting so many sentences with ‘I’.

It is important not only to know what I am doing wrong, but to learn what I am doing right, so I don’t edit out the good parts.

As I have said, my greatest weakness is knowing my world and my story too well. I can picture it exactly in my head, but I forget to inform the reader. Having a fresh perspective provides questions about things that didn't tell them, that need to be answered.

I don’t take all of the advice that comes my way, some things I like the way they were, but I always listen and think about what is suggested. If multiple people make the same suggestion, I look closer and I usually rework things.

Once I was happy that the reader had a question, because that’s what I wanted. I wanted the reader to be wondering, as my character was. I wanted the one character's actions to seem weird.

Do you use an online beta reader or friends and family? Both?

Here's some of the advice I got from my online forum friends for my first chapter: (MC is writer speak for main character)

This should be a new paragraph. And nothing was explained earlier to indicate the MC was not daydreaming. Show what the MC is marveling at instead.

Good point. I'll have her playing around during the lesson. That's more fun anyway.  

Take a look at your sentence structure in this part. 

Yikes! I see what you mean. I have a bad habit of starting my sentences similarly. 

This feels like too calm a thought given the situation

Yeah, bad Molly. I'll get rid of it. I can explain this later.

The author is interfering with the story telling.

Oops. I wouldn't want to get in the way. 

This paragraph is awkward starting with the third sentence

Yeah, defiantly needs reworked.

Needs a comma.

There was one at one point, stupid word. Good catch.

Interesting premise. From the sound of it, she was conceived after the shift. So she’s ten years old. Is she the only child born at that time? If not do any of the others (younger) show magic abilities? She’s kind of a clean slate still. It seems like she would be lonely if she doesn't have any playmates her age.

I'll have work on getting to know her better before the attack, I want people to care about what happens to her.

I like this, showing the relationship between mother and daughter.

Thanks.

A Writer's Bad Habits

There are so many out there, I am only going to talk about a few of mine today. The good news is, after you realize what your bad habits are you can learn to correct them as you write.

I forget to tell the reader something I know. I imagine it so clearly in my head, but I forget to inform the reader. This is usually a description or an animal, a person, or a place.

I love adding in unnecessary words. Many adverbs are completely unnecessary. If I erase the word and the sentence still makes sense, giving the same amount of information, the word goes. Some of my favorites are: just, actually, finally, very, started, then, like, that. Before, I spoke of copying my story into Wordle and using it to check how often I’ve reused words. It was surprising that first time to see a huge just in the center.

This also goes for wishy-washy words that don’t really add anything. I have a lot of these: a lot (oh the irony), a bit, a while, sort of, kind of, about, around, almost, think, believe, looks, seems, feels, begin, start, continue. I write in first person, so I can get away with a few seems and thinks, because these are my main character’s impressions.

I am fond of adjectives because, they’re easier. “He was tall.” Doesn’t say much, if someone is four foot tall, five feet would be tall. “He was 6.4 and 180 pounds” Specific, but boring. Why would I need to know exact details? “His head brushed the ceiling.” Shows he is tall, not exactly, but it gives the reader a good idea. In a romance novel, characters are described differently, but in a fantasy, no one needs to know how his muscles ripple, or her clothes flow around her curves.

Scene changes are difficult for me. I tend to use meal times to show time has passed. At least I’ve gotten past the little kid way of saying, “And then” or “Finally.” I’ve been paying attention to how authors I read handle this. The most common way is to show a scene change or going to the next chapter, jumping right into the action. They make sure to let the reader know anything that has changed, like time, or if someone left, but they don’t usually come out and say “A few hours later” like I am prone to do.  

Warning my reader, by giving a hint that something exciting is going to happen before it does. Suddenly is the biggest one, but sometimes I’ll say things like “I thought it would go this way” which tells the reader that it isn’t going to happen.

Telling instead of showing, this is a big one. “She was angry.” I am telling my readers about her anger, but it has less impact than, “She ground her teeth and clenched her fists. “ I read some good advice today; tell what the character sees, but show everything else, to let your readers figure it out themselves. Show the important stuff and tell the unimportant.

What are some of the bad things you are prone to doing in your writing?

The crazy things writers do

What normal people see as eccentricity is really dedication and passion.

Basically the job of a writer is to have conversations with ourselves, so it shouldn't seem crazy when I'm always talking to myself. Besides, unless I read my writing aloud how can I make sure it flows well and sounds right?

Don’t look at our Google history, just don’t. It will be filled with the strangest searches you could never even imagine. I’m not even a murder mystery writer and mine are fairly frightening. It would be easy to frame a writer for something. Especially, if it looked like I was casing a place, because I probably was, but I didn't really want to break it, honest. I just wanted to write a break in.

How many of us haven’t done something a little strange in the name of research? When I was twelve I wrote about an alien species who ate flowers, so I tried a flower petal. Unfortunately, I chose an iris, yuck. Not to mention a little poisonous. Now I read a bit before eating strange things, but not much else has changed. I go around with a fake sword in my hand trying to choreograph a battle scene. Sometimes I enlist the help of my friends or family. "Here, you stand here, you pretend to punch her." Earlier this week I was making faces in the mirror to help me better describe emotions. (I found a photo from that old show Lie To Me and that actually helped quite a bit.)

The ideas never stop, ever. So, that glazed over look I have in my eyes? I’m not ignoring you on purpose, I just had an idea, or got distracted by something, it happens. My job is to daydream, you can’t blame me for doing it at the wrong moment. I can’t control where and when I’ll get an idea. I often find I’m staring into space instead of doing what I am supposed to do, like driving, which is why I don’t drive much.

I never know when inspiration may strike, so I always carry a notepad and pencil with me. I must look a bit odd scribbling away in the grocery store. I hate it when I’m all snuggled in bed when I have a really good idea, and have to get up, and turn my on computer again, so I don’t lose it. The worst thing could happen to me and I’ll be happy. This is great material for my novel.

Yes, I’m staring at you, no I’m not checking you out. I’m imagining you as a character. I am always fascinated to hear people’s stories, everyone has one. I like looking at people and making up their stories. I generally never talk to these people, on the strange occasion I do, like when they are checking me out (not as in romantically interested, as in a cashier) I sometimes even find I was accurate in my assessment of them.

So, after reading this post I've probably convinced you that writers are in fact crazy. (At least this one) Okay, maybe a little bit, but there’s nothing wrong with that. If we were normal and boring, no one would want to read what we write.

What are some of the unusual things you've done in the name of writing?

Memorable Side Characters

There are the good guys, the bad guys, the hero and the villain, but what about all of the other characters. The hero's friends and family. Their supporters and their enemies. All the people they meet along the way.

If there are many side characters it helps to make them more memorable by giving them something that sets them apart from the rest of the characters. They could be really tall, have a large nose, or have a strange habit, something to get people to remember them. Make sure that everyone in the book doesn't talk in the same fashion. Having an accent or speaking differently is another way to set off a character.

In real life there are people you don't like, but they aren't necessarily villains. In a story these characters serve the purpose of making things more difficult for the hero. There's nothing wrong with a character that is neither a particularly good or bad guy. In real life there are plenty of people who fall into this category. Most people aren't as good a person as the hero in a novel or as bad a person as the villain.

The trick to making characters seem real is to make sure they act consistently. They aren't a steadfast supporter of the main character one minute and act against them the next. Everyone does things for a reason, explain their actions and motivations.

Some of the best books have great side characters. What are some of your favorite side characters?

New Experiences enrich my life and my writing

I've spent most of my life being afraid. I decided that though I can't do anything about my fears, I don't have to let them stop me.

I've always wanted to be a writer, but if I never wrote down all the stories I came up with. I realized that if I didn't try, I could never succeed. Sounds logical right? Surprising how many years it took me to realize this. I was so afraid of failing.

Writing was hard at first and I struggled. Whenever I sat at my computer my mind went as blank as my screen. I kept at it, gradually writing a bit at a time. As I went it eventually got easier and now I'm writing like a mad woman.

Another fear I have is flying. I've let it stop me from ever seeing the ocean, one of the things I always wanted to do. I decided it was time to do something about that as well. I didn't fly alone and I held my Mommy’s hand at every bump, but I made it. We flew to South Carolina to see my sister and I saw the ocean.

The first thing that struck me was the smell. It was better than I'd imagined it, fresh and salty. It surprised me how much it looked like Lake Michigan, the only other large body of water I'd seen. Though there were plenty more waves and it was more blue than green they both appeared endless. It was a wonderful experience, even if I discovered I am extremely prone to sea sickness. (I got sick on a floaty raft. Apparently, I even turned green.)

I also had another interesting first. I got stung by a jellyfish. My sister commented on how it was impossible to describe how a jellyfish sting feels. I, of course, took that as a challenge.

"I was bobbing in the waves, attempting not to get sea sick, when I felt a jab at my leg. My first thought was that I had been pinched by a crab. It dawned on me as the pain changed, not too different from the feeling right after I’m stung by a bee, that it must have been a jellyfish. As I hobbled to shore the pain radiating up my leg changed again to a sharp burning."

My sister the scientist informed me that it is a unique experience. "The first time you are stung it is the worst, because your body doesn't know how to react." I don't think my body needed to know this, though it wasn't nearly as bad as I make it sound.

I have been striving to live life to the fullest and have new experiences. They haven't all been good experiences, but they still enriched my life. Besides, even bad experiences can provide me with writing ideas.

What scares you?