Time to Write Week 44

Group 1: Edits chapter 24 and chapter 4

Group 2: Writing Chapter 44

Group 3: Writing Chapter 24

9 weeks remaining in our writing journey. I hope you are beginning to pull together a finished book. So what if edits are still to come you will get there. I am trying not to spend a lot of time here so you won't be distracted more. Maybe this is a good week for everyone to ask questions about their stories and editing and endings. Authors feel free to comment if you have good answers. We are here to help each other. Keep writing. Keep editing. Keep finding your time to write!!!!

Historical Novels...What You Need to Know

I write historical romance and have learned a few things along the way, but there is always more to learn. 

Write what you know and love. When I started writing there was really no question for me that I would be writing historical westerns. I love books on highlanders and stories about pirates but I do not know the history well enough and the brogues and societal things weigh too heavy for me to study all that. But cowboys I knew. That being said I still have to do my research on each story. 

The first thing is to make sure to do your research. If one thing is off even a little, I promise a reader will point that out to you. It will be necessary to know the era, time period, living style, conveniences, language and dialogue, dress, foods, method of cooking, etc. 

When doing research use sites that really offer you the true history. For detail Wikipedia might give you some insight but I will bet you can do better. So did in. Check out the Library and related books. 

Reading stories in your same genre is a good start too. 

If adding a piece of true history to your story, read up well to make sure you have it right. But it might also be good advice not to add too much historical facts until your story feels like an encyclopedia. 

Give your characters relatable struggles for the time period. 

Be careful to be respectful. I tossed a Cheyenne Medicine Man into Dawson's Haven and I had a lot of American Indian traditions in that story and the story I am not writing for Leaning Bear called Paint the Sky. The issue is while I did a ton of research I am still not sure it is all perfect and my aim in the story was not to offend anyone. So I had my editor let me add a small paragraph about trying to depict true history and that I might not have it right but that any errors are completely my fault and not mean to be negative toward any of the tribes. Something like that.

I am guilty of having to watch not to toss in modern terms. I have to sometime look up the history of a word to see when it actually came to be in use. 

And no worries like I said, some reader will point out for you what you didn't get right. I usually answer rather generically. "Thanks for you comments, I do hope you enjoyed my fictional story." (Bite me!) Kidding but seriously it is best not to haggle as everyone has an opinion and authors are human. 

Rule of thumb, if your mind questions it, then look it up, the reader will too.  

Time to Write Week 43

Group 1: Edits chapter 23 and chapter 3

Group 2: Writing Chapter 43

Group 3: Writing Chapter 23

10 weeks remaining in our writing journey. Just a few hints on how your manuscript should be typed and spaced. Publishing houses can differ on what thru require so do your homework before submitting. This is how I do it: Double spacing with no separation between paragraphs. Times New Roman 12 point. Indent 5 spaces on new paragraphs. Some do 3. Margins 0.5 all 4 points. Other hints: Utilize spell check. Utilize grammarly. Utilize the word speaker to read to you. Read out loud.

How bad do you really want it?

We have been at this for a while now. Weeks have turned into months. Sometimes I remind you of the things we need to do to keep us going. To keep us writing. It isn't easy, is it? Well again if it was easy everyone would do it.

But if in all this time you have not gotten much at all done I will ask: Are you sure you really want this? Go ahead and answer honestly. No one knows your answer but you. Writing is hard. It takes hours and hours and weeks and months. If this isn't a big dream of yours then why are you going to so much effort to finish the book? Why not do something else because you have to commit to this or let it go. I am strongly wording things here. I certainly don't want to run you off of this blog but your time is valuable. Your goal to write is valuable to you? But have you made it a priority? So many people who are not writers ask me how I have the time to write when I have a full-time job, a husband, 2 daughters, 2 pets, and a house to maintain. I am by far not perfect at it but my only answer has ever been: You make your dreams a priority. I changed things so that I could write and I did it with purpose. And there were times my family and friends questioned my motives. But I didn't care. I had wanted to write when I was young but nursing school killed that dream. Seriously. There is no life during nursing school or long after. When I first got out of nursing school I wouldn't even read a book for around two years. Later came more school for my BSN and more for a Masters. Then I got married and then was a mother. That dream was pushed to the wayside once more. But when my girls were big enough to handle their own baths and didn't need me as much I pulled out my laptop. I think this was about 2011. I did not stop pushing for the dream. By 2014 I got a contract and 2015 my first story was released. Someone in my writing group was heard to say about me "I have never seen anyone so determined to come in and say I am gonna do this and dive in head first." That is sort of how I did it. I won't say it came easy. I wrote even when my husband fussed about the dishes in the sink. I wrote when my mother and other family thought I was wasting time and neglecting my children. I think it was my father who asked why I hadn't done this when I was single and had time. My answer was I was always in school. Now they are all the proudest and hardly remember those not so fun days of writing... when it wasn't understood this is what I do now. I am a writer but they now know I am an author for sure. I headed up early in setting my time to Write. I negotiated where I could for writing time. I carried laptop wherever we went. I wrote on my phone. I hurried to get chores and kid homework done so there might be an hour I could grab when the girls went to bed and I might grasp at the last of the energy my brain had left. I still do this. I still plan my days and weeks to get in my writing time. My girls are bigger. So now they can help with chores so I can write. Now my husband and the girls know when I am writing leave me alone. It's ingrained in them. In fact both my girls already have a strong work ethic as well as dreams they want to achieve. I gave them that and my mother gave me mine. But I also do this with health issues. Thyroid disease, Diabetes and a host of other things. So don't tell me you are tired and have no time to Write. You make time for the things you love and sleep can come later, family sucking the life out of you can come later. One hour a day is yours if you take it. You not writing is your choice so I will ask you again.... is writing what you really want? Tough words. But answer the question. I will offer you some helpful hints. 1) Negotiate for the hour a day you need. You gotta schedule it so everyone including you knows this is your time to Write. 2) Know how much time you have and map out what you need to get done in that hour so you can maximize progress. Work with what you have. One hour a day or 4 hours on one evening. 3) Anything you do for your story counts. Planning. Brainstorming. Outlining. Writing. Work it! 4) Track your writing time. You will be able to see your progress there. Heck track your word or page count. 5) Never go back. I keep harping on this one. You cannot maximize your writing time if your are trying the polish the first chapter for 3 months. Edits come later. 6) Push yourself to write faster. Let the story flow. Edits come later. Do sprints with writer pals. Time yourself against your best time and word count. 7) opps. You missed a day. So what. Get back in the chair when you can and make up for lost time. OK. So do you really want this? Then go get it!!!

Time to Write Week 42

Group 1: Edits chapter 22 and chapter 2

Group 2: Writing Chapter 42

Group 3: Writing Chapter 22

11 weeks remaining in our writing journey. 

I thought I would share some editing steps for those winding things down. 

Once you write The End...some say put your story away  for a week or two. I think a break is good. Most of the time I don't do that but we are all different. I absolutely dislike writing a story but I love having written and because a different part of my brain is used for editing I go right into that. 

Fresh eyes on the manuscript after some time off csn be good. 

Read through the whole story making more notes of what is needed. 

Once you have read through then you are working on draft two of your story. Each time it will get better and I will be honest. One or two times is not enough. 

Fix any big issues first. This may require using your book notebook to see where the issue fixed affects story. Go and fix problems related to an issue all the way through. 

This is where scene maps and your chapter outline csn be quit a bit of help. 

As you read work look for plot holes. 
Cut boring sections. 
Beef up dialogue to be realistic. 
How is the story pacing. Does it flow?
What's missing? What didn't you answer? Readers hat to have something unanswered or left hanging. 

Once you have fixed any story arc issues then work on each characters arc and growth in more detail. 

When you are satisfied on the number 2 run through read it all again from the beginning. Check grammar and punctuation and take a break from the story once more. 
Search for passive sections by locating.... had just was. Where a lot are together is leas active. 

Search for filter words: saw watched realized felt etc. 

When you pick it up again you have some decisions to make. What was your word count goal? As you read this time fluff if you need more words and cut where you csn if less. This is review #3. 

So for the number 4 read thru just read. Then begin looking for like words close together. Replaced verbs with active verbs. Cut what Adverbs you can. 

There is no set plan on how to edit or in what order. These are just hints so do what works best for you. 

Onward!!!

A few things on Dialogue

More hints on dialogue. It isn't just so the character chat. It should move the story forward and be relevant to the plot. It should have a purpose in what is taking place.

When writing dialogue ask yourself what purpose it serves and make sure it is connected to the story and not just fluff. Not just filler. 

Dialogue can be used to show where a character is driven. It can tell a reader their motivations and where the story is headed. Dialogue is a good place for the character to display fears and obstacles. Dialogue should definitely show the reader what is at stake...the risks involved. 

It is important that dialogue sounds like normal speech....but not your speech. Yes you have a voice in the story but each of your characters should have their own dialogue styles so readers easily recognize them. 

Sometimes dialogue can be the character speaking to try and figure things out. It helps to weave conflict and fear into the dialogue to help support the plot. 

Now some things to think about. I have encouraged a couple of times now that all the Adverbs in a story be removed. Adverbs are most often leading to passive writing and we want active writing. But Adverbs don't have to be removed from dialogue...we use thought when talking and it's common to do so. But over use can't be good either. So as I am searching my manuscript for Adverbs I do leave them in dialogue. 

And always read your dialogue out loud. Especially the exchanged between characters. It will help you identify where things don't sound natural.

Time to Write Week 41

 

Group 1: Edits chapter 21 and chapter 1

Group 2: Writing Chapter 41

Group 3: Writing Chapter 21 

12 weeks remaining in our writing journey. 

So we should be at completing 40 chapters. 20 chapters edited or 20 chapters written. 

Now to spell out things we now have 12 weeks left until our 52 week plan is up! So each Monday post on our writing will now hold a countdown. Nothing like pressure!

So I urge you to pull out your writing book and start planning these remaining 13 weeks to hit your goal. 
Check where you are in your story or editing. How many more chapters do you need to finish the book? How can you break it up into weeks to finish. 

Remember the goal of this 52 weeks of writing was to complete one or two stories. It was to have a completed rough draft of your story. 

Not coping out on you. Do you remember when I said early on you cannot edit an unwritten book? 

Well not its time to map out remaining chapters and get this story finished. Now is the time if I can work it out I will take a couple of days off work and write full time on my current story. 

For this of you done writing it is time to edit from the beginning. You got 12 weeks. Use it well. 

Some people write better under pressure. Not me. I do better when there is a plan.  

But not to make anyone who is hanging out on the journey to feel bad...this is not a race and we all write at different paces. So don't give up at all if you are not where we are at 40 weeks done. Keep going. Any progress is good. 

So for the remaining 11 posts I will be short. We know what we have to accomplish and we need time to do it. 

I will still keep posting Thursdaya hints and helps. But I urge your to maximize your writing time. Ignore these posts if you are on a roll. Get this story finished. 

Now if you are writing more than 40 chapters that is fine. Keep going. If you need all 52 weeks to finish your story that is great. You can edit once you are done in the next year. 

Just think in not time you will have a completed story to edit or you are already on it. Or you aren't far. Just keep going!!!!

Get moving for Brain Power

More on self-care. I have mentioned a lot of things we writers can do to take care of ourselves. The fun and easy things like coffee and a candle or a bubble bath with both.

But one of the things to keep us better in focus a d to keep the blood flowing to put writing brain is the dreaded.....EXERCISE. Yes I said it. And I am guilty of not getting enough. So do a bit of soul searching on what activities you like to do and the ones you can manage to do each day. But like any habit it takes a while to get it ingrained. I want to get walking in at least three times a week if not 4 or 5. But there are things we can do daily to help us feel better and write more. For this week let's all commit to looking up 15 minute YouTube exercise videos we can do in our offices when we are done with our hour of writing. Let's commit to 3 times this week for 15 minutes. From there we can get to 30 minutes three times a week. If It's nice out I may walk. You choose what works for you and let's all report in what we have accomplished. But we need to make this one a habit. Maybe reminding and helping each other. Go for it! Find your activity. And hey It's Time to Write.

Time to Write Week 40

Group 1: Edits chapter 20

Group 2: Writing Chapter 40

Group 3: Writing Chapter 20 So we have reached un upcoming milestone in our writing journey for 2023. This week we will write chapter 40. Some will edit and write chapter 20. If you finished a 20 chapter book back in May. This may be your second story that is about done. Or if like me you may be on chapter 40 of the first book. So as we progress forward we may all be on different things. But haven't we all made some progress? Wow forty weeks of writing coming up. How about this week where share once again the progress we have made. See ya on Facebook authorkimturner to give you my answer.