Let Her Rip
Posted: September 26, 2011 Filed under: Writers Write | Tags: Black Leather Jacket, Donald Maass, Donald Maass Workshop, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Leave a comment »
A friend gives me her cast-offs. Last month, I scored a black leather jacket with unfortunate puffs over the shoulders. Think Linda Evans in Dynasty. The jacket is too nice to toss, but If I wear it, I’ll walk around yelling, “Blake, Blake! What’s wrong? Alexis, get away from him!” So, it’s been in purgatory for a few weeks now, draped over Old Dusty, my sewing machine.
Today, I pulled out the seam ripper. I know what you’re thinking.
When did this become a sewing blog?
Relax. I haven’t renamed Crisply Spoken, The Crafty Critter, but I did decide, sans sleeves, the jacket would make a fine vest.
I’ve been working on the same book for three and a half years. At eighteen months, the agent Donald Maass said something that exploded my brain.
You don’t write romance. You write satire. Here’s what you need to do.
I took the sleeves and body apart at the seams, pushed out the plot, added a few points of view, and connected the characters in ways I hadn’t imagined. For two years, I saved the good parts, splitting and splicing and refashioning them.
Now, I have a vest instead of a jacket.
Like this:
Wednesday Check-in
Posted: January 5, 2011 Filed under: Wednesday Check-in, Writers Write | Tags: writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Leave a comment »Schooled
Finished Lessons 15, 16, and 17 of Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. 117 out of 591 tasks completed. I’m working on Lesson 18: Heightening turning points within scenes. It’s huge–twenty scenes. I’ve finished four. I can see my book change with every revision.
Land of Enchantment
I began typing the longhand copy. Whenever I get down about revisions, I open the notebook and try to read my own handwriting. A little eyestrain and I’m ready to go back to the other book. I’ve typed 2,000 words of the 60,000 word manuscript. I worried that I underestimated the word count. Not a chance. Every page is longer than I gave myself credit for during NANOWRIMO.
During the break, I read a craft book. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print by Renni Browne and Dave King. I confess that this was recommended long ago. I was afraid I’d go crazy if I started thinking about editing in the middle of story drafts. Wrong. This book is a must read. It answers all my questions and dumps bad advice where it belongs–in the trash. Buy it and read it. The book is a keeper.
Back to Work
Posted: January 3, 2011 Filed under: Goals, Writers Write | Tags: Donald Maass Workshop, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Leave a comment »I don’t make resolutions, but I do set goals. A year ago, I wrote these things on a 3×5 index card:
- Tab SCHOOLED with Donald Maass workshop notes (Did it.)
- Write O’Keeffe/Dickens paper. (I did the research.)
- Rewrite SCHOOLED. (I finished lessons 1-14 and 34 of Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.)
- Create a comic throughline for three new books. (I did it for one new book.)
- Choose one of the throughlines and create: a collage (Did it.), scene cards (Did it.), a rough draft in longhand (Did it!)
This year’s 3×5 looks like this:
For SCHOOLED:
- Finish Lessons 15-33 of Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.
- Write a synopsis.
- Clean, refine, and edit a final draft.
- Query.
for LAND OF ENCHANTMENT:
- Type it.
- Write the second draft using the Breakout Novel Workbook, Lessons 1-34.
- Write a synopsis.
Research FEARLESS and write a throughline.
