First Chapter

First and foremost. Welcome new members, thanks for joining and following me.

I remember when I first started writing how I couldn't believe how serious people were about the first chapter being vital. I always thought they were nuts. it's just the beginning, right?

Wrong!

That first chapter is so much more than just "the beginning" of your story. It's one the two most important chapters in a book. The other being the climax {which will will discuss in a later post}. Next to the climax your first chapter is the most important one of the book.

Why?

Because that little bugger has a lot of important jobs to carry out in order to succeed.

One: It must grab the readers attention immediately. Something, be it an action scene, or a problem your character needs to resolve, or even a bit of dialogue about the problem your character is facing, has to quickly snag your reader's attention before they put the book back on the shelf and reach for another one. {this goes back to my post about how vital the first sentence/paragraph is and why.}

Two: Ground the readers in the setting. The reader needs to know immediately when {what time period, future, past, present?} and where {location, location, location} the story is taking place. Please use specifics here. Specific sensory details should cue the reader to the exact location.

Three: It sets the tone for what kind of book they are reading and gives a glimpse at the over all style of the writer. Readers need to be clear about what genre the book is by the end of the first chapter, or they will get confused and likely walk away feeling cheated. Make sure you know what genre you are writing and the rules that apply to it, so you can follow those rules specific to the genre and not disappoint your reader's by "cheating them" {pretending it's a sci fi action book when it's really a romance fantasy} and leaving them unsatisfied.

Four: It introduces readers to the main character{s}, but not too many at once. Personally, I like to stick with just the hero and/or heroine in the first chapter. That way readers don't feel overwhelmed by too many characters and can get a chance to "bond" with your main character{s} If a reader cannot bond with the characters, why should they continue reading to see what happens to them?

Five: It sets the stakes, letting the readers know exactly what is at risk for your character{s} and what they must do to overcome it. The first chapter should satisfy the reader's need to understand what the story is going to be about, while posing a question that makes them want to stay with your character{s} and see what happens. Arouse the reader's curiosity and they will want to keep reading. Fail to arouse their curiosity and they will put it back on the shelf unread. Sad, but true.

Six: It establishes the narrator's voice and Point Of View, which will help you cut down on the dreaded "head hopping" and enables you to avoid confusing your readers. Make sure your narrator's voice is clear, or you will confuse your readers. Confused readers = lost readers = lost sales and lost future sales and/or lost contracts.

Seven: The first chapter should be a teaser, one that creates a question in the reader's mind and creates suspense to keep them wanting to learn about and thus turning the pages, to follow your character's through out the book. Only give the details necessary to firmly establish your character's situation and what is at stake, while immersing your readers in the setting. It's a good idea to avoid as much back story as possible within the first one hundred pages. But it is absolutely vital to keep it out of the first chapter. If your readers already know everything, why should they continue reading your book? Keep them guessing and you should keep them interested.

In conclusion over the years {and a plethora of revisions} I've learned the hard way everything I mentioned above. Don't make the mistake of starting just to start. During the revision stage pay special attention to your opening chapter and check for the key elements listed above. If you're missing them, add them. After all, that's what revisions are for, to help us clean up our mistakes, tighten prose, and add in what we've missed.

The Crucible

This is often a touchy subject with writers of all kinds. But it is a key ingredient to writing a successful novel.

So, what is a crucible?

To quote Stein On Writing:"Author James Frey refers to a crucible as: The container that holds the characters together as things heat up." - end quote.

Why is having a crucible so important?

To quote Stein On Writing again:"The key to the crucible is that the motivation of the characters to continue opposing each other, is greater than the motivation to run away." end quote.

It's my understanding that the crucible is your characters' driving factor, the one reason they simply cannot stop. It will be the motivation that pushes them to the climatic battle.

Take a married couple for instance. After say a dozen years of being together, having two kids together, and countless years of stress and arguments, what could possible kept them from splitting apart?

The motivation that keeps them together would obviously be the strength of their love for each other, and for their children.

However, their marriage would be their crucible. It ties in with their motivation and keeps them together as the arguments heat up, no matter how rough things get.

I chose that example, because to me marriage is a sacred union and so I felt this example would be the strongest one to get my point across. But crucibles can be an inclosed area, an emotion that is so strong they can't walk away from it, like love, ect.

What are some of the crucibles you've used in your novels? What is your crucible for writing novels in the first place? I'd love to hear your ideas and thank you for listening to mine.

Reference Material: Stein On Writing by Sol Stein.

Make sure you check out This wonderful opportunity for writers and join in the celebration. These ladies have worked hard to achieve their success. http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2012/02/3000-thank-yous-giveaway.html

Scenes

Have you ever been told that writing things one scene at a time will make the whole novel process easier?

I remember how confusing that statement was when I first started out writing my novels, and how when everyone who tried to explain it only confused me more.

I can't tell you how many times I've been told this by other writers and editors over the past few years.

So, what makes a scene a scene? That is an excellent question and one than can be very confusing, as every person has their own ideas about it and most conflict with others opinions. Today I'm going to attempt to simplify it for those of you still confused about it.

Here are a few quotes from a book I've found infinitely helpful about it.

"For one thing it takes place in real time. Your readers watch events as they unfold rather than it being described after the fact." - end quote.

So, what exactly does that mean? It means you show the action, rather then describing {aka telling} it.

Telling: She kicked her foot and spun around, walking off angry.

Showing: Layana kicked the rock, sending it across the ground with a muffled curse. Her mouth tightened into a thin line and her hands balled into fists as she spun around, and stomped away, kicking a second stone out of her path with a huff.

Scenes usually have settings as well, specific locations readers can picture." - end quote.

Now let's add that nugget of advice to the prose. Shall we?

Layana stood near the river. A branch fell from the tree, smacking her in the face and knocking her on her butt. She kicked the rock, sending it across the ground with a muffled curse. Her mouth tightened into a thin line and her hands balled into fists as she spun around, and stomped away, kicking a second stone out of her path with a huff.

Scenes also contain some action, something that happens. More often than not, what happens is dialogue between one or more characters." - end quote.

Now to add that last nugget to our prose.

Layana stood under a tree, listening to the nearby river flow and relaxed her shoulders. A branch fell from the tree smacking her in the face and knocked her onto her butt.

"Damnit!" She jumped up and kicked a small rock, sending it across the ground with a muffled curse. She watched with little satisfaction as it sunk into the water with a loud splash.

"Why can't I catch a break today?" Her mouth tightened into a thin line and her hands balled into fists as she spun around, and stomped away, kicking a second stone out of her path with a huff.

The final product transformed our first sentence into an entire scene. Hard to believe it, huh? But, it meets all of the criteria.

1.} It has a specific location: by the river.

2.} It has a specific character: Layana.

3.} It shows us what happens as the events unfold: Getting hit by a branch and growing angry enough to kick a rock and then storm off.

4.} It contains plenty of action: Jumping to her feet, kicking a stone, complaining, stomping off, ect.

5.} It also shows rather than describes her emotions. Instead of simply saying, "she walked off angry." I've shown her anger, through the tightening of her mouth, balling her fists, her huff, her curse, and her storming away.

I even added some brief dialogue, and went a step further by hinting through the dialogue at the fact that she's had a lousy day.

Three paragraphs created an entire scene. Amazing huh?

Please note that some scenes can take several pages and even a full chapter to come out right, others can be brief, yet vital to the plot, such as the one I did above.

Reference Material: Self Editing For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

One hurdle crossed. Many more to go.

I'm taking baby steps with my MS. I have to finish ironing out the villain's back story. By Sunday evening I should have it finished. That wasn't my targeted finish time, but at least I am getting somewhere with it.

Small bits of progress are still progress. No matter how insignificant they may seem at the time. No matter how frustrating it gets when you don't reach your intended goal. Every step leads to an overall stronger and richer MS.

Think of each step of progress as a single brick. You have to layer the bricks in order to build a sturdy foundation, and then you can build the house.

If you don't reach your intended goal each week, then chances are you're setting your goals too high. Take it one step at a time, just like when you were learning how to walk. Remember that you have to crawl before you can learn how to walk. After you learn how to walk, you can learn how to run.

I didn't reach my intended goal this week, but I still made progress.

I ironed out the character's profiles and personalities. While doing that I came up with some interesting new twists for the plot to take, added a few sub plots and a major change to the ending.

I ironed out most of the character's back stories. I even started revising the first couple of chapters from the original idea {where the protagonist is actually a teen.}

So, all in all I consider this a productive week.

My goal for next week is to completely map out the character arcs. I'm also working on improving my writing technique by fiddling with one of my deleted scenes. It should be fun. Wish me luck.

Talk about an eye opener!

I've recently combed through my files for the Double Trouble characters

"What was I thinking?"

I spent over three years writing it half way out, and then set it aside for over six months, because I made the colossal mistake of starting to edit it before I finished writing it out.

Big mistake!

I ended up getting myself into a huge writer's block because of that. Take my advice and finish writing your MS out, then worry about the editing process.

After setting it aside for so long I've definitely grown detached from the MS and characters. I can see everything crystal clear now. People aren't kidding when they say 'Set it aside until you have a clear perspective.' That absolutely is vital in order to properly revise it.

Today I spent two hours comparing the character sketches for all of my male characters and I realized there are too many similarities in them. They're not completely alike, but not near as diverse as they should be.

Has this ever happened to any of you before? How did you feel about it? I feel like a total amateur for making such a mistake.

I spent the rest of my writing time today going through each of the characters profiles and giving them completely different descriptions. Too many had long hair, and most were the same archetype. Talk about boring. I've decided what each character's dominant strength and corresponding flaw will be. Those vary depending on their personalities.

As for my female MC, I've completely redone her character sketch from scratch. I've vetoed the conflicting character traits, decided what her goals and driving factors are, and have cut back on her strong suits. I've defined the conflicts she will have to face. I still have to iron out a few kinks for her character arch, like fleshing out parts about what her mother was like, but otherwise she's good to go.

I've decided that every character, no matter how small a part they play in the story, will be a different archetype. I've finally figured out which archetype suits each character best, even the minor characters, and have tweaked the details to iron them out.

I can't believe how little has actually been accomplished in the four years I've worked on this MS. I've put just under three years of actual writing into this MS, but I started planning it and drawing up the outline a year before that. Today I realized that I still have a long way to go before it'll be publishable. Talk about depressing.

I just have to remind myself that I am making progress on it. Not as much as I'd hoped for by this point, but progress none the less.

Today I made a major improvement in the characterizations, but I still need to fine tune each character's back story. Having the character-arcs ironed out will allow me to finish writing out the story and fine tune what's already written out.

I hope to have to have all their back stories completely charted out and start on ironing out the kinks in my plot line by the end of the week. I'm slowly learning how to self-edit my MS. I still intend to have a professional editor look it over before it is queried or published, but I like the idea of being able to catch what they look for myself. We will see how it goes.

I pretty much live like the pioneers did, minus the hunting, and with the added technology of electricity. We heat with wood, we lug water, tend animals, burn our trash. It's a bit rustic and sometimes harsh, but so invigorating and rewarding too. I love it and so do my husband and kids. It keeps us active and in shape. It allows us to bond as a family, gives us strong values, which we live by and permits us to be surrounded by nature's beauty.

With winter here my day starts with lugging in wood and tending the fire, then my children, then house cleaning, laundry, ect. So my writing time is limited. I'm not able to write as often as I'd like to anymore, but I wouldn't change my life for anything in the world.

I'm hoping to update this blog once a week, preferably on Friday evenings. So keep an eye out.

Let the Revisions Begin!

Ever feel like you've been smacked with a wet noodle the size of Cleavland? Reality has a way of doing that to you when you least expect it.

Don't get me wrong, I never claimed to be an expert writer or anything. but, after six years of writing fan-fiction and receiving positive feedback, I never expected to need to do quite so much work during the revision process for any of my manuscripts.

That will teach me to think that just because my fan base for fan-fictions think I'm "Such an awesome writer" that I am anywhere close to knowing just how much hard work really is required to succeed. Determination, a deep passion for writing, time and patience, are only the beginning.

It takes blood, sweat, and tears to succeed as a writer.

Truer words have never been spoken. Most beginning writers think that writing the book all the way to the end is the hard part.

Wrong!

That's just the icing of the cake.

Revision is truly the longest and hardest part of getting any book ready to publish. I'm often told "It can take up to ten years to get one manuscript ready to publish." And now I know why.

Revising means picking every tiny aspect apart and combing through it, one piece at a time. Pieces you've spent days and even weeks working on trying to perfect them, end up being completely useless. Yet you struggle over whether to cut them or not. Talk about painful!

Blood, sweat, and tears, truly are the foundation of what makes a good writer stand out. You have to build on that layer by layer, or there will never be a solid product.

With my current manuscript round one of revisions is a little over half done. I've been working on it daily since the beginning of December. I have discovered the plot has some major holes in it, which I've been trying to address during this revision.

Thanks to the feedback I've received through my crit groups and a few friends, I know my opening hook certainly works as intended. So that's one huge hurdle passed. I know that the story is garnering quite an interest among my peers and fellow writers, as well as my Live Journal friends. Way more then I ever expected it to.

I've also learned that at the moment it's catching the interest of male and female readers equally at my crit groups. That was quite unexpected and gives me a bit of insight for my marketing procedure, when I'm ready for that step.

And yes, I said crit groups, as in plural. One can be enough, but I thrive on the feedback I receive from as many people as I can. Especially the blunt, in your face, feedback. If you can't take honest constructive criticism, to the point of bordering on a "flame" then don't bother trying to get published. Crit groups are there to help you grow as a writer and they are mild compared to what a professional editor will say.

Anyways, let's get back on track here. The characterizations aren't quite as good as they can be yet. I've made a list of things to do to improve those during the second round of revisions.

The plot has managed to hold the interest of the people who have read it all the way through. It just needs the plot holes filled and some spit and polish. So, at least the 82,176 words of my manuscript aren't a complete waste. There is a gem hidden beneath the massive weight of work ahead of me. I just need to dig up the gem and polish it. That's a huge relief!

I have, for the first time since I started writing, deleted an entire chapter that did nothing to move the plot forward. Wow was that rough! So many hours perfecting that chapter, only to find it was useless. ouch! But I sucked up my courage and cut it. I've also added two other chapters that really move the plot along since then.

Round two will take even longer, because it goes much deeper, directly into the meat of the writing itself. I plan to address the entire "story-telling" concept as well as refining the characterizations and filling in the remaining plot holes. Now that's going to take some serious commitment to accomplish all three steps during one round of revisions.

Over all I keep telling myself every bit of pain and sorrow will be worth all of the effort and hard work because in the end I will succeed. I just have to be patient and rigorous.

In conclusions I'd like to take a moment to say that I greatly appreciate all of the continued feedback I receive and eagerly look forward to the next step of this enlightening journey.