Just wanted to let you all know that my story, Favorite, will be the Every Day Fiction Podcast on Wednesday, Feb 11! Here’s a link to check it out. http://www.everydayfiction.com/features/podcast/. Hope you all get a chance to hear it.
Red Pens
Red pens. There’s a love hate relationship there with most writers. It starts in grade school the first time a teacher whips one out and starts going through your essay with it. “Tighten this, misspelling, run on sentence.” My biggest one was misspelling.
Even so, I love red pens. I have a lot of them, but I only use them for one thing, editing. It’s one of the reasons why I have to print out drafts, so I can go through them with red ink, crossing out and leaving similar notes as the ones my teacher would have left, but probably with more swear words. “Show, Don’t Tell!” I’ll write, or “Cliche, rewrite.” My favorite one, “You can do something better than this!” By the time I’m done, my manuscript is awash in red ink. Then the next draft isn’t so bad.
Why do we use red ink for editing? Is it a sense of tradition, dating back to when pens only came in three colors? If so, why do we keep doing it when we’ve got so many options? I actually can’t bring myself to write in red ink, only edit. I can write deadlines in it, too.
Is it something about the color itself? It’s a very authoritative color. Maybe it’s the symbolism of blood, as though while we edit and cut our darling drafts, they are literally bleeding.
For me, color is so very important. I’ve mentioned before that my books are told from two character’s third person pov. I switch ink colors when I switch character. Right now I’m using Le Pens Blue and Oriental Blue. But when I edit, I’ll be using red, for much of the same reason. From years of habit, it tells my brain, ‘We are editing now. We are perfecting.’
The red pen also helps me step away from my writer self, and into my editor self. This is not my darling. This is a piece of work, and it’s my job to find the flaws. With my red pen.
Print out your manuscript, at least the first, second and fourth draft. Go through it with a red pen, preferably a brand new right out of the package one. Cut, shred, prune, correct and murder. Kill off characters, cut whole pages, whole chapters! Underline when you’re being cliché, learn the short hand editing notes. Your book needs a firm hand just like your children. When you’ve gutted it, then all that’s left standing is the good, the gold. Then you build up more gold around it.
But first, you’ve got to make your book bleed.
Writing Prompt Saturday- What do you hate about your first draft?
Alright, this is something I do with all of my fist drafts. I unload. I am furious at my first draft! I spent all that time and ink, slaving over a hot notebook and keyboard to make it perfect and for what? It’s not perfect. It’s not just as I want it to be. It’s full of spelling mistakes, terrible dialog, and plot holes I could drive a Buick through! Basically, I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.
So I write about all the things I hate about my first draft. I get it all out on paper, without judgment. Then, I know what I want to fix.
What do yo hate about your first draft? Tell it all about what you don’t like about it. Go ahead and hurt its feelings. It hurt you.
As always, feel free to post what you hate about your first draft in the comment section below!
Markets- Pseudo Pod
Awhile ago I posted about a site called Escape Pod. This is a sister website, Pseudo Pod, that’s all about horror. I am a huge fan of scary, macabre, and anything creepy and crawly. So, I love this one.
Genre- Horror.
Word count- they want either flash fiction of around 500 to 1,000, or longer pieces from 2,000 to 6,000 words.
Sub Date- Any time.
Wait time- two months
Payout- $100.00 a story, either length.
We’re on Facebook!
There is now an official Paper Beats World Facebook Page! To compliment the Paper Beats World Pintrest page, and the twitter feed. I’m also going to start doing more with said twitter feed, but not much more.
So, what’s going to be on the facebook page that you can’t find here? Lot’s, eventually. I’m going to be doing geek reviews, contests and agent opportunities, even more writing prompts, and conversations. I might even run some contests of my own at some point.
This is a chance to have a conversation. Feel free to go over any time and see what I’m talking about. Because, let’s face it, I talk a lot. I want to hear what you have to say, too.
Check This Out- The Pomodoro Method
If you’re getting into the thick of your editing process, you’re in danger of running into one of two walls. Maybe you’re getting immersed in the process and forget about other things, like eating or personal hygiene. Or, you’re so daunted by the whole process that you’re waiting until you’ve got ‘real time’, to get into it.
Here’s the thing. You don’t need more than a small snippet of time, so long as you take it every day. And you shouldn’t even try to devote too much time on it, or you’ll burn out.
I recently found a new tool to help with both of those things. Actually, I’ve got pretty bad adult ADD, and this is helping me with literally everything in my life. It’s called the Pomodoro method.
Here are the basics. You set a timer for twenty five minutes, and work like hell on whatever your project is for those twenty five minutes. You do this with a pad of paper next to you, to write down anything that might pop into your head while you’re working. I mean things like random story ideas, ‘oh, I have to do this soon,’ to do lists, and whatever . The website suggests keeping a journal, but I just use a legal pad, and transition stuff into my bullet journal.
After twenty five minutes you take a five minute break. Stretch, get some coffee, use the potty. After four 25 minute sessions, take a longer fifteen to twenty minute break. Keep track of how many sessions you get in.
So, the names a little crazy. It’s the Spanish word for tomato. The creator started this out by using a tomato shaped timer.
I love this method. I’ve been getting so much more work done since I’ve started using it. As already stated, I have ADD. It’s very hard for me to focus on one thing for long. My brain just starts racing if I’m only doing one thing at a time, and this helps. Instead of telling myself ‘you must focus until this project is over’, or worse, ‘I’ll just go and fill the dishwasher real quick’, I work for the whole session. If I think of something I need to do, on this list it goes, to be dealt with after I’m done with whatever I’m doing.
Check out pomodoro this week. And let me know what you’re doing with your sessions in the comment section below.
The Writing Life- Editing Shopping List
Don’t lie, you’re going to love this part even if you hate editing. I’ve never met a writer that didn’t walk into Staples and hear the Halleluiah chorus in their head.
Editing is an intensive process, and it requires special tools. While it’s true that you only need a pen and a notepad to start your rough draft, you need a little more than that now. That’s okay, you’re worth it and so is your story. Besides, if you sat your ass in your chair long enough to produce a first draft, you’ve earned a shopping trip.
So, here’s my suggested editing shopping list.
1. Printer paper and at least two new ink cartridges. Or, you can do what I do and have your manuscripts printed at a local printer. It saves me time and money. It also prevents me from trying to replace the ink cartridge, which I seem to have some sort of mental block over. Personally, I write out my first draft long hand, then print out my second draft in preperation for the third.
2. Red pens. As always, I’ve got a great red le pen that I use.
3. sticky notes, to add notes to the manuscript itself while you’re reading it.
4. A legal pad. I get ideas while I’m editing that I want to address in later parts of my book. That’s why I keep a legal pad right at my side for stream of conscious note taking.
5. Highlighters. All sorts of uses for highlighters, and I suggest a five color pack. I use them for poor dialog, bad phrasing, plot holes, characters acting out of character, grammar mess ups and spelling mistakes. Some people use them to track plotlines, but I’ve usually got so many of those that I’d need more colors than they make. Though I will use them to track ploteline importance with the next tool.
6. Index cards. I use these to make plotline maps, because I can make it bigger as I go along. What I do, is write the chapter title in the color ink I used for that character’s pov. (one of my org tips for keeping povs in order in draft one.) Then, I’ll write any plot lines discussed on the index card, higlighted by order of series plot, book plot, sub plot, or character development. I also make a little note of the last chapter we talked about this plotline in.
7. One big plastic crate, to corral all of my drafts as I go. I’ll separate them in the boxes I get from the printer, but if you’re printing at home, I advise shoe boxes, or any other box that’s the right size. No need to get fancy unless you really want to.
8. Coffee, obviously. At least for me. But really, I’ll use any excuse to buy coffee.
9. Binder clips. I use these to hold my pages together in later drafts so I can flip them like a book.
10. Treats. Editing is hard. Even for crazy people like me who like it. I feel better if I’ve got a piece of chocolate after each chapter.
Editing is a big job, and you need the tools to get through it. I didn’t add any specifics about these tools, because there are a hundred different kinds of high lighters, and you should pick out the ones you like best.
Take some time to pick these things up, and let’s get started.
Plans For February 2015
Here we are, another month, another theme. This month, we’re talking about a writing topic you either love or hate. It’s editing. Like I said…
I really enjoy editing. It gives m a chance to combine some of my favorite things, organization, creativity, and anal retentiveness. It can also be terrifyingly intimidating if you don’t have too much practice, and when you’re looking at a huge project like a novel.
There’s a lot that goes into editing. You write your first draft all by yourself, with no external input. Editing is when you start letting other people in. You do the research, get other people to read your work. You run through red pens and coffee. You think over, and re-think every word you wrote. I often think of editing as taking my rough draft, which is a giant lump of wood, and using a chainsaw to cut it into shape. I’ll use smaller tools to get it closer and closer to what I want, until finally I’m going over the whole damn thing with sandpaper.
This month we’ll break down step by step how to edit your novel, what you’ll need, and go over some of the trickiest parts of editing fiction. Stick with us this month as we take our work and rip it down so that we can build it back up again, better than it ever was.
By the way, I don’t think I’ll mention this anywhere else, so let me say it here. One of the best tips I ever learned about editing is from Steven King’s On Writing. Don’t start editing your work right away. Give yourself some time, at least six weeks. Work on something entirely different, so when you come back to it, your manuscript feels like someone else’s work. This makes it easier to edit clinically, not emotionally.
So buy some red pens, print out your manuscript, and get ready to make it better than it’s ever been.
Market- Escape Pod
If you write Science Fiction, this is the one for you. Escape Pod’s been around for awhile, but they took some time off from accepting new submissions. They’re back now, though, and ready for your work.
Genres- Science Fiction
Submission Dates- They take submissions year round.
Word count- 2,000 to 6,000 words. So no flash fiction, but nothing too lengthy either.
Payout- Six cents a word
Wait time- It’s not specified on the website, so the rule of thumb is generally three months.
Check This Out- Special Edition to say Goodbye To Girls with Slingshots
I found out something sad today. One of my favorite web comics, Girls With Slingshots, is coming to an end on the next few months.
It’s actually the second web comic I read that’s coming to an end. The other one is called ‘Shortpacked’, but that one’s not about writing, so I’ve never featured it on this blog. But GWS is one that I’ve had on my list for awhile, and somehow never got around to telling you about. Now, it’s almost too late, but there is still time.
The main character is a girl named Hazel. She’s a writer, and at the start of the strip she’s an unemployed writer. Eventually she gets a job at a newspaper, then a magazine. One of the most touching moments early in the strip is a conversation she’s having with a friend on the phone. He’s telling her not to be discouraged, that she’s a great writer and she’s going to make it. “But,” she says, laying in a field under a star filled sky, “What am I going to write about?”
Which one of us hasn’t felt that way, at some point in our writing lives?
Don’t think it’s all serious, though. Hazel’s got a talking cactus, a crew of insane friends that includes a dominatrix librarian, and a slight substance abuse problem.
So, check out Girls With Slingshots. It’s a great time to get started, because the creator, Danielle Corsetto, is keeping the site updated by reposting the story from the start with new color and fun additions. Even though it’s ending, it’s a great read.
Paper Beats World 
Recent Comments