Making It Perfect by Victoria Chatham

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Question: Do you have any character habits or favourite words that always crop up in your writing?

Oh, boy! Do they ever. But – that is why we write first drafts. Once I have started writing, I try to keep going. I say try because I am a Virgo, and if you know anything about astrological signs and their characteristics, you’ll know that Virgos are perfectionists. I like the first sentence, first paragraph, first chapter to be perfect – except there is no such thing as perfection.

I learned by trial and many errors to get on with the story, taking Nora Roberts’ advice to keep writing as you can’t edit a blank page. Quite apart from those niggling fillers like had, was, just, really, very—I could go on but won’t—I find that I have a different ‘crutch’ word with each book I write.

In one of my books, my hero grinned so much I’m not sure that he would ever have straightened his face out if I hadn’t taken myself in hand and did a painstaking search to rewrite practically every instance of where I had him grinning. Another hero groaned—a lot— and a Regency heroine was forever sighing. I’ve had my moments with ‘however,’ ‘especially,’ ‘nevertheless,’ and many more.

Then there are the phrases that crop up everywhere like weeds, the unconscious shorthand if you will, of many Regency novels. A hero’s hair may be ‘slightly longer than fashionable’ (a phrase of which I have been guilty) or ‘curl over his collar,’ and a heroine’s toes may ‘her curl in her boots,’ plus my pet peeve of romances in general ‘she shattered.’ As writers, it behooves us to find the words to create the emotion and the moment to satisfy our readers fully.

But this is where self-editing comes in. Being aware of the nuances of what you’re writing means you can go over your work and search out those offending words, which are often repetitious. The editing process gives authors a chance to weed out those wretched stumbling blocks, and in that process, make their writing more powerful by rewriting sentences and phrases for more of an impact. (this is an example of redundancy. It means much the same as ‘more powerful’ so it has to go.)

Writing a book is not usually a solo effort. It starts with the author’s idea, building on the original concept by brainstorming with writing buddies to create a setting, characters, plot, and conflict. (Wine is frequently involved!) However the book comes into being, the first revision will include (or should) a thorough search for repetitions and redundancies, and those words ending in -ing (gerunds) and -ly (adverbs.)

The next stage will be beta readers who, if they are doing their job, will point out any character or plot holes and often pick up a ‘crutch’ word the author may not have been aware they were using. Early in my efforts to become a published author, a wise writing tutor warned me to ‘learn to love rewriting,’ and she was right.

Getting the idea down in the first draft and then editing and editing some more, and likely more after that, is the grist of learning the craft of writing.

​Victoria Chatham

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Seven Characteristics of a Writer by J.Q. Rose

 

Dangerous Sanctuary by J.Q. Rose
Romantic suspense

Pastor Christine Hobbs never imagined she would be caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.

Dangerous Sanctuary is May's FREE eBook download from BWL Publishing

Click here to get your copy now.

A writer

Seven Characteristics of a Writer

One of the best perks of being a writer is using one's imagination to develop interesting characters. Villains are especially fun to create because they may do things in a story that the writer actually wants to do in real life e.g. kill off the neighbor's dog that barks constantly or bury the ex-boyfriend. 

Romping through a fictional world and having all the choices about what characteristics define the character in his/her world is more like play than work. 

“While we read a novel, we are insane—bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren't there, we hear their voices... Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed.”
― Ursula K. Le Gui

But what about the characteristics of a real, live writer? We had fun discussing this topic at my friend's blog, so I decided to share the list of seven real-world characteristics that I believe a writer has. 

📕 Devotion A writer must love what she is doing. If not, the book or essay will never get written because the first draft is always junk. If a writer is not devoted, she will tear up the pages and give up. Rejections will knock her off her feet, and she will never try again. But when devoted to creating her piece, her desire and determination may be challenged, but she will keep writing.

📕 Organization  Writers must organize their research for a story, save the manuscript files to choose the correct one for editing, keep track of promotions, prepare posts for a blog, email and/or social media, keep up with the bookkeeping. Thank goodness spreadsheets can help with these many tasks.

📕 Imagination Remember when you were a kid, and you would act out stories with your friends or make up poems for your mom? Fiction writers never lose that creativity. Non-fiction writers need imagination too to send the clear solution for a problem to readers in an interesting and new way.

📕 Intelligence Smart people can write! I know it sounds like bragging, but it is the truth.

📕 Discipline If a writer cannot set aside time when penning a project and keep that appointment, the writing will never be finished.  Carving out a time in her schedule for creating a project and sitting down consistently to do it will develop the habit of writing.  

📕 Strong vocabulary Writers need to know a variety of words to clearly describe places, characters and emotions. Reading enlarges vocabulary. Become a wordsmith using Thesaurus.com. 

📕 Sense of Humor  Mark Twain and Janet Evanovich are masters when it comes to including humor in their stories. Even a horror story or murder mystery can use a light touch within the pages. 

What are your thoughts on the list? Please add more characteristics in the comment section below.

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Author JQ Rose

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Movies and Books by Victoria Chatham

For my seventh birthday, I was treated to a trip to the movies to see Walt Disney’s Cinderella. 

Cinderella and her Prince colored my world in a way that books didn’t and since then I've been a die-hard (no pun intended) movie fan. Don’t get me wrong, I love books. I was taught to read at home, pre-school. I was, and am, an avid reader of anything that takes my fancy. My books fueled my imagination, but movies had me holding my breath and perching on the edge of my seat as I watched the action.

I think I was eight or nine when I started going to the Saturday morning movies on a regular basis. It very much depended on whether there was a movie theater where we lived. Moving around with my soldier dad was a bit of a potluck lifestyle. I do remember having to do chores to earn the one shilling and sixpence ticket price to enter those magic portals and sit through a B movie, Pathé news, and then – WOW – the all-important feature film.

The cinemas I remember were more like theaters with their music pits in front of the screen, sometimes with actual live music depending on the movie, curved tiers of seating and fancy boxes and always those magnificent tasseled, velvet drapes. Oh, the anticipation when the lights were dimmed and they opened to reveal that magical silver screen. Girls carrying trays of ice-creams and cigarettes paraded the aisles during the breaks. How I envied them! In my innocence, I thought they saw all the movies they wanted for free. The truth, as I later discovered from a friend who actually got a job in a movie theater, was very different.

I still love going to the movies, but today I see them through different eyes as I’m far more aware of the beats in a movie – especially since reading Blake Snyder’s book ‘Save the Cat.’ Although Blake passed away in 2009, his trilogy of books on screenwriting and story structure make him a still recognized writing mentor. I’ve never been interested in scriptwriting, but I’ve found his book and his beat sheets have helped me with my own story structure as did Michael Hague’s workshop on the three-act structure.

There are so many good craft books and great workshops and I know I’ll never get bored with learning about the craft of writing. But there comes a time when, regardless of structure or how many craft books writers have on their shelves, you just have to let loose and bleed on the page. That’s where story comes from, the heart and soul of the writer. Write the story first, then apply the finesse of the craft.

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CRAFT BOOKS - A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION by Victoria Chatham

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When I started writing seriously, over twenty years ago, I had never heard the term ‘craft books.’ I associated craft with knitting, sewing, or woodworking and furniture restoration. My first writing instructor explained that there were many, many craft books on the market and what some writers swore by was anathema to others.

My very first craft book on writing was Guide to Fiction Writing by Phyllis Whitney (September 9^th, 1903 to February 8^th, 2008.) I read it slowly and carefully and the one thing that struck me was her comment, ‘I had worked hard to learn my craft.’ This was something of an eye-opener as I had never thought of writing as work.

I suppose that stemmed from having always been good at English, a carry-on from early exposure to books and reading from a very early age. Not only did I enjoy my English grammar classes but also English Literature, both taught as separate subjects at the high school I attended. Words were fun, making up stories was even more fun. Writing prize-winning essays carried all the perks of extra points for one’s house and, if one was very fortunate, maybe the gift of a pen or a notebook.

But, as an adult, the fact that good writing didn’t just happen was something of a challenge to me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write, so continued taking short story writing courses until an idea gelled into a western contemporary romance. Did I know how to write romance? Nope. It involved a lot of reading and deconstructing some of the novels I read. It also involved many, many more craft books.

Other early books were William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. These did not necessarily enhance my romance writing ambitions, but they did help the structure of my writing. I’m not sure at what stage I came across Stephen King’s On Writing, but that one book has remained my firm favorite. Being more mature when I really settled into my writing career, I really appreciated these words by King (2000):

‘I have spent a good many years since - too many, I think - being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent.’ (p. 50.)

My family and friends had always looked on my writing as ‘Vicki’s little hobby’, undermining any confidence I had. This resulted in me relegating whatever project I was working on to the back-burner until I had either a) recovered my courage enough to pick up my pen again or b) come up with a better idea. I got to the point of not sharing my ideas with anyone, secreting my scribblings away into deep, dark drawers.

Many years later, I am now comfortable with myself as a writer. I like to think that I have learned, and continue to learn, my craft. Along the way I have acquired many more craft books, too many to mention and goodness knows how much I have spent on them. I love talking to other writers and many have recommended books they find useful. Some I have read about in trade magazines or on some blog. As I have acquired a book, I have read it from cover to cover. Some have been discarded or passed on, many have been kept on my bookshelf and revisited often. I have my favorites, Robert Mckee’s Story being one of them. Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer is another and my go-to grammar book is the saucily titled Comma Sutra by Laurie Rozakis. I rarely go into a bookstore without looking to see what is new on the shelves but I have to be firm with myself. There is little point in getting lost in the how-to or why of writing. The lessons learned need to be put into practice by writing and then writing more.

So now I have finished writing this post, I am going to write the next thousand words in my work-in-progress. The operative word here, now that I am older and wiser, is work! If you have a favorite craft book, please share by leaving a comment.