FREE STORIES AND EARLY UPDATESJoin my newsletter for freebies and secrets!

EmmaMaree.com

Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi

writing advice

#CampNaNoWriMo and the TBR Pile Decimation Challenge!

It’s Writing Wednesday… okay, it’s Thursday, shush. July means it’s CAMP NANOWRIMO, a month-long challenge to write a ton of words. Plus I’m taking part in Miss Cole’s TBR Pile Decimation Challenge.

This post is dedicated to the WordPress back-up system, which managed to restore the bulk of this blog when I thought my browser wiped it.

Camp-Participant-2015-Web-Banner

What I’m Writing

This months goal was to write 40,000 words. Then 30,000 words. And now the goal is just… not… happening…

This month has been absolutely nuts. At this rate I’ll be lucky if I hit 15k before month end. Lesson learned: writing can be a good distraction from a super stressful month, but don’t expect to get much of it *actually* done.

I still achieved a LOT this month though, and weathered some fierce storms, so I’m not feeling all that put-out about the wordcount failure. So it goes.

What I’m Reading

Miss Cole started up a TBR Pile Decimation Challenge, which I’m slowly chipping away at.

My JULY TBR plan was…

I finished one novella beta read, a short story beta, a lot of blog posts, the Avatar: The Last Airbender massive comic, The Infinite Sea, and Kushiel’s Dart. Plus, a comic that wasn’t in the pile — the new Ms Marvel Volume 2 paperback! Which was worth cheating on the pile with.

Igiftoffear started, but haven’t finished: THE GIFT OF FEAR (which is amazing, and satiates my hunger for some non-fiction). The Gift of Fear is a fantastic book, about how to recognise violent and otherwise dangerous intentions in people. It’s all based on some really interesting case studies and psychology, but written with a slight thriller style to it which makes it very accessible. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to feel a bit more safe in their day-to-day life, or wants to write realistic villains.

I’ve also started the second book in Patrick Ness’s CHAOS WALKING trilogy, and it’s *really* good! I feel like I’m reading THE ASK AND THE ANSWER at just the right time — it’s giving me a lot of practical information on how to write smoothly in first-person-present-tense, as I work on editing a first-person-present-tense story.

What I’ve Been Up To

So I watched SENSE8 recently, and oh my gosh. BEST SHOW EVER. BEST SHOW EVEERRRRR. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Also, there’s been lots of doggy adorableness (and running!) going on.

 

What Works For Me

Lately, I’ve been trying not to worry out about progress and goals, without losing sight of my end game. This is… tricky, honestly. Staying goal-focused without stressing myself out is one of my biggest challenges.

Fortunately, I’ve got a great support network of writer-buddies who keep me focused, and let me rant when I’m overthinking this sort of thing. Lately, I’ve been venting about how focusing on my own path is more important that  looking at the routes others are taking. Or, more succinctly…

 

My Revision Strategy: Wing It Offline!

Today, for their Road Trip Wednesday question for bloggers, YA Highway asked: Tons of writers are in the midst of NaNoWriMo, trying to stay inspired as we reach the dreaded middle. Share your most inspiring and/or motivational video, book, or quote on writing!

I’m in the middle of a big revision of REBEL AGAINST HEAVEN just now, and struggled with my revision tactics to start with. But I’ve found a plan that works for me:

  1. Disconnect completely from the internet. No computers. It’s all pen and paper from here on.
  2. Print out the manuscript A4, double line spaced, font size 12 (I’m on a Courier New font kick but Times New Roman is good too). Get a pen and a notebook.
  3. Read through the entire manuscript, out loud, making small edits on the page and making notes for bigger changes in my notebook.
  4. Don’t sweat about deadlines. I do what I can within my allotted time, I don’t stay up too late without sleep, I read normal books, and I don’t avoid fun ‘time wasters’ like anime and TV.
  5. When this is completed, I’ll spend some time planning the large changes before typing up the new draft.

I tried to do a digital revision with Scrivener, but that was too distracting. I also tried to do a ‘macro’ revision, focussing on big issues and ignoring typos and small issues, but that was too frustrating. In the end, I decided to wing it: just go with what’s comfortable and what works for me.

I’m not recommending this strategy for everyone, it’s just what works for me — it’s actually very unlikely to work for other writers, just like other writer’s revision systems completely didn’t work for me.

There’s a chance this might all fall flat on it’s face when it comes to implementing the major changes I have ahead and I’ll have to come up with a brand new system for the second round. We’ll see. I’m confident that having a tighter draft to operate on will work out well for me no matter what.

Emma Maree Reviews: Dear Agent

Book: Dear Agent by Nicola Morgan

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing Advice

You’ve written the best book you can and you believe there are readers for it, but how do you persuade an agent or publisher to take it on? The first thing they will see is your letter or email and this short document must sell your book, make it stand out from the crowd, make it (and you) desirable.

Dear Agent contains detailed expert advice, covering the best structure for your letter, what to put in (and what to leave out), the answers to the questions writers ask, and all the horrible mistakes to avoid. Make your book stand out for all the right reasons.

This is a sister book to Write A Great Synopsis, but this time the focus is on UK-style covering letters to help you net a UK agent. UK covering letters are a lot more laid back than US queries (by which I mean you won’t get instantly rejected dun dun duuun if it’s not perfect) but they’re still important enough to stress writers out.

“Dear Agent” is a short, sweet, and to-the-point read that covers all the important questions, such as should I mention multiple books, being rejected, my pets, or that my mum liked it…

It also pays special attention to the tricky bits: that dreaded hook, how to write the bio section even if nothing very interesting has happened to you, and how to inject a bit of personality into the letter. It covers both fiction and non-fiction, multiple Points of View, and other sticky situations that can make the thought of summing it up in a letter more nerve-wracking than it needs to be.

If you’re new to the submission process, or trying out the UK system for the first time after submitting in the US, then this is a great starting point. Authors who’ve been submitting in the UK or US will already be familiar with a lot of the advice, but the tips are still useful no matter how long you’ve been wading in the query trenches.

Emma Maree Reviews: Save the Cat!

 Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing Advice

One of Hollywood’s most successful spec screenwriters tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. “Save the Cat” is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying – and saleable. This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat.

A clear, well-written guide to presenting your story to other people. It’s aimed at screenwriters, but it’s also a well-known tool for fiction and non-fiction writers. A lot of the information (such as know your genre, have a one line pitch) will be familiar to anyone who’s been following writing blogs or lurking in the query trenches, but if not then it’s a great place to start.

It covers lots of essential information, including genres, character archetypes, and my personal favourite the ‘beat sheet’, which breaks down most plots into a simple structure and can be very helpful for working out pacing problems and structural issues.

Blake can come across as irritating with his every-other-page self-promotion. I loved when he pulled out popular movies for examples of genres and styles, but I got sick of him reference his own ever-so-successful films and TV ideas. I’d never heard of any of them. This would have been fine in a smaller dose, but there was just too much of it.

I think I’ll dip into this book occasionally when I need a refresher on cliches, tropes, and plot structures – but it’s a difficult book to read from start to finish without Snyder’s comments getting on your nerves.

Emma Maree Reviews: Write a Great Synopsis

Book: Write a Great Synopsis by Nicola Morgan

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing Advice

Most writers hate writing synopses. They need dread them no more. In Write a Great Synopsis – An Expert Guide, Nicola Morgan takes the stress out of the subject and applies calm, systematic guidance, with her renowned no-nonsense approach and laconic style.

Write a Great Synopsis covers: the function of a synopsis, the differences between outlines and synopses, dealing with requirements for different agents and publishers, finding the heart of your book, how to tackle non-linear plots, multiples themes, sub-plots and long novels, and it answers all the questions and confusions that writers have. Nicola also introduces readers to her patent Crappy Memory Tool, explains the art of crafting a 25-word pitch, and demonstrates with real examples. Gold-dust for writers at all stages.

I’ve been waiting on tip-toes for this book to be released – synopses are tricky stuff to write, and it’s always nice to get an expert’s tips on them. While the UK publishing industry is a little more friendly than the US industry there’s a lot less information available online about it. We’ve got The Writer & Artist’s Yearbook, Carole Blake’s From Pitch to Publication, and now there’s Nicola Morgan with Write A Great Synopsis and her more general industry advice book Write to be Published. The best part about it – WAGS is only £1 in January! You can buy in here from Amazon UK.

Nicola’s book is a short and snappy read that covers all the bases – the only thing I would have liked is a more formulaic method, which tends to work best for me (Susan Dennard’s method worked a charm for me recently). Nicola’s recommendations don’t rely on a formula or a section break down, but this this allows her methods to work for a much wider range of stories. Her tips work brilliantly for both your run-of-the-mill 3 Act stories and for non-fiction and fiction that doesn’t follow a standard structure. She even includes some particularly useful advise for books that jump around, include flashbacks, or have multiple endings.

This is a succinct and brilliant book, and I recommend it for any writers (UK, US or otherwise) who’re tearing their hair out getting that synopsis written.

RTW: Why do you write?

Today, for their Road Trip Wednesday feature, YA Highway asked: What’s your numero-uno reason for writing?

I feel like what I should be responding with is ‘to be read’. Because that’s what we all want, right? To have people read our stories, love our worlds, remember our characters.

(Alternatively, some might say they write because they enjoy it – but I’m a firm believer that sometimes you hate writing, hate your stories and hate the words that come out on the page–and this is all a necessary part of the struggle to improve your own work.)

But the head, the heart and the gut all agree that this isn’t why I started writing, and it isn’t why I still do it. I write because story ideas and characters show up in my head and I think: ‘That’s really cool. I want to share that.’

I write because these are the kind of stories I love – and the books I would read and obsess over for weeks afterwards. These are the stories that would dig deep into my mind and make me ask questions, and the characters that I’d want to know in real life.

The old writing adage definitely holds true for me: I write the books I want to read.

(And the books I think other people will want to read, too. Because I have fantastic taste. ;P)

EDIT TO ADD: A fitting and very true image…