Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

How You Re-Write 3: Method over Madness

Wednesday, July 13th, 2016

The philosophy I share with all students and editing/coaching clients? Anyone–ANYONE–can deconstruct and rewrite a manuscript. Anyone can learn to rework a story one element and scene and character at a time. Last week I shared some of my basic techniques for  understanding the key characters in your completed story draft (at a high level). Click here and here for those posts, to catch up or refresh or try to niggle a bit more out of each one.

This week and next, we’re diving into the actual method of deconstructing. My method. The title of this series is HOW YOU RE-WRITE, and the overall blog category is HOW YOU WRITE. So, disclaimer time: this works for me and many of my clients and students, but the only way you’ll know if it works for you is IF YOU WORK ON REWRITING SOMETHING OF YOUR OWN. Eh-hem… Sorry, it’s a nit for me.

writing is rewriting

What’s the deal, you ask?

Just as a refresher: re-writing is hard; looking at what’s not working with your characters and plot points and themes and secondary everything can be a nerve-wracking, soul-sucking, insecurity-making exercise; and a lot of people listen but never try many of the basic, not-so-hard-to implement exercises I recommend. Which is too bad, because learning to rewrite (and we’re all ALWAYS learning, with every new project) is your job. It’s not an option. And I can’t tell you the number of clients who fade away or students whose enthusiasm wavers after a course ends or followers contact me years later to say they still haven’t finished that book they were working on back when, but they’ve started 5 new ones since…and not finished them, either.

Which is unfortunate, sad and avoidable. Just do the work (or in this case the re-work). Do it. We all have to. All of our pretty babies are drafted in the shadows of “ugly.”

writing pen

It’s madness to think yours won’t, and inexcusable as an artist to let your creative drive for approval (especially your own) block you from learning and applying the craft that will better enable you to bring your unique voice and vision and stories to readers who are languishing these days, in a sea of often poorly-written, poorly constructed, badly delivered free or so-close-to-free-it-doesn’t-matter digital content.

Rant almost over. Except to say this: make what you create matter as viscerally and beautifully and impactfully (not a word, but you get the gist) as it can, by understanding it, honing it, and ruthlessly re-working it to the best of your ability. (more…)

How You Re-Write 2: Actually, it’s Beginning-END-Middle…

Thursday, July 7th, 2016

Re-Writing Lesson 2: Taking a closer look at my recommended method for using the B-M-E Chart!

Or, if it helps you more easily remember today’s discussion… My Beginning-End-Middle Chart.

BME Table

First, be sure if you haven’t to brush up on Rewriting Lesson 1, where I begin discussing my methods and philosophy for deconstructing and re-writing manuscript drafts.

Then grab all those notes you’ve made from your own Work-in-Progress, because you did your homework and have been looking at your current draft, right? Right?! And maybe you had a bit of a struggle encapsulating what’s happening with your characters at these key story turning points (Inciting Incident, Midpoint, and Black Moment). If so, welcome to the club. These aren’t high concepts most of us have nailed down when we first begin to draft.

So, let’s take another stab at it. Even if you’re happy so far with what you’ve learned about your story from using the chart, indulge me and lean into Lesson 2 and your draft with a fresh set of eyes.

The B-M-E Chart Process

Some quick definitions as we begin. Just summaries, for the sake of this exercises and post.

  • Inciting Incident: the first key turning point in a manuscript, when something happens that has never happened before, propelling the protagonist and antagonist together into the external flow of the story.
  • Midpoint: the center-most turning point in the manuscript, the tent post “propping up” the external and internal arcs of the story;the “ah-ha” moment when the protagonist realizes the “true” goal/conflict of her/his journey and pivots (through a shift in motivation) toward pursuing the objective that will drive her choices and actions for the second half of the novel.
  • Black Moment: the pinnacle moment where all that is at stake for the protagonist is revealed and all hope is lost if the the protagonist hasn’t learned enough throughout the story’s arc and/or isn’t ready to make the no-going-back, life-changing choice being asked of her.

Step 1: Can you isolate these turning points in your draft?

Not theoretically, not as you think back about what you meant to do with your story. Actually, physically, can you turn to these places in your printout (PLEASE, when you’re deconstructing a drafted work-in-progress, print it out and work with a hard copy. I swear, developmental/content editing is so much more effective at the analytical stage if you work with hard copy rather than scrolling through a digital copy)?

seriously

I have a method I’ll describe in a later re-write lesson for isolating specific scenes while deconstructing a novel, and how to learn the most you can from that exercise. But for now do the best you can and put your finger on when these three critical events happen to your protagonist. Not what you planned to do, or what you meant to do, but what you physically wrote as you drafted. (more…)

How You Re-Write 1: Revise with the B-M-E Chart

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

Re-writing is your friend. No, seriously. Re-writing is your BEST creative friend of all… Revisions, if you will. But when I teach and keynote and author coach and content edit, I make a clear distinction between line and copy editing and proof reading and the creative work of developmental editing, also known as re-writing.

And since for most of us mere mortals, our first full draft of a project rarely tumbles out of our brains fully realized, just dying to be written, part of our job–arguable the most important part of your job–is re-crafting that draft until it’s its best self. And that ain’t easy. In fact, resistance to re-working and re-writing and re-imagining the whole that’s sprouted from that kernel of an idea that drew you to write a story is the Number One reason a lot of authors never publish traditionally, and why a great deal of independently-published novels will never find a home in a reader’s heart.

Rewriting isn’t an easy friend. It’s overwhelming work, and creative fatigue and doubt and frustration can win the ensuing battle if you let them. But you’re a professional writer. Say it with me, “I’M A PROFESSIONAL WRITER.”

And your job is to take control of your creative process every step of the way. And for the purposes of this How You Write post, your job is to rewrite your draft for however long it takes for the story and characters and journeys you’ve created to connect with the reader on every level possible. You’re the boss, not the draft. You’re ready to work through the exhausting process of diving back in over and over. Really, you are ;o)

The way to do that?

Simple.

No, the process isn’t simple. But you job is, so to speak. All you have to do is break your draft down into simple parts, so you can effectively execute the work left to be done in manageable chunks.

simple

When you’re drafting with a plan (and you have a plan, right?) or rewriting with plan (because you revamp your plan for your story before you rewrite, right?), you give yourself a chance to conquer the overwhelming, sinking feeling that you can’t succeed at something as complex as creating a novel. You allow yourself to focus on one piece of the story at a time, until the whole manuscript finally begins to take shape. But what is your re-writing plan???

I’ll get more specific about my re-writing approach in my twice-weekly July How You Write blog updates. But for now, accept for the sake of argument that writing is a process (while creativity and voice and the compulsion to share story with the world through the written word is a gift, bless you heart…). And as part of that process, re-writing can be learned and executed and mastered by anyone determined get better at her/his craft.

To help simplify things today as we dip our toe into re-writing…

I encourage every new student and client to do what I do with a freshly drafted first pass at a story–focus on the beginning, middle, and end of your characters’ journeys, as you deconstruct what you’ve achieved with your novel. Before you rewrite the first word, you first have to understand (to “conquer”) what you’ve already written.

First up! I teach students and clients to pinpoint the emotional focus of a character at the inciting incident of a story,  at the midpoint, and at the black moment.

beginning middle end

Make a chart (easily done in Word or Excel or freehand on a notepad). A simple one, with a row for your protagonist, your antagonist and perhaps one significant secondary character. Three columns: Beginning, Middle, End.

BME Table

Then read through those three key turning points in your story draft (inciting incident, midpoint and black moment) and see if you can define the state of each character’s internal journey. Jot down only a sentence or two for each turning point and each character. You should be able to summarize very specifically how a character is growing or wanting to change at each critical juncture. Once you’re done, take a look…

Is each character’s emotional state dynamic and arcing throughout the story? (more…)

Everybody has a dream…

Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

perfect day wm

Don’t confuse dreams with fairy tales. They’re meant to be the inspiration that gets us through the hard work, sustains us over the long haul, and says, “Get over it, you’re doing fine,” when we stumble about, clinging to our path.

“Dreams don’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat,
determination and hard work.”
~ Colin Powell

We have to first Wake Up from the dream and face reality for what it is. We must find our purpose each and every day, keeping our motives true. We must want with every fiber of our being, without losing sight of the consequences of the sustained work to be done to reach a dream sweeter than imagination. Because once achieved, that dream is the culmination of effort only we could give and imagination only we’ve been blessed with.

Our dreams are our reality. They’re our voice. They’re our all, if we want them badly enough.

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.” ~ James Dean

Live with your all, your dream firmly in your reality, fighting for forever.

That’s the way to wake up every morning.

“To love beauty…”

Monday, July 7th, 2014

“To love beauty is to see light.” ~ Victor Hugo

quilt tranquility wm

As easy as it is to submit to the problems and the hassles and the disappointments of any day, we’re rewarded so much more by seeking that flicker of light our soul needs to catch flame and thrive. Amidst the most trying of circumstances, there is an ember of who we want most to be. BE that someone, despite the rest.

If we make each moment about who and what should consume us, then that sparkling goal becomes our reality, not all that stands in our way.

“Each one prays to God according to his own light.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Happily Ever Now…

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill

happily ever after

Now is our real, our chance to mark time as more than killing.

What of now will you remember always?

Make today a happy that stays.

Because…courage.

Because you lived.

Piecing life together…

Sunday, June 29th, 2014

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” ~ Bruce Lee

quilt pink double wedding ring

Heirloom quilts and Bruce Lee quotes? Leave it to a women’s fiction writer.

Quilts are strong, durable things once they’re pieced together. From variant bits of fabric, often discarded scrap, evolves a tapestry that can last decades, centuries. Like any other unique idea, any creation, any voice uniquely owned. And if you make a mistake making a quilt, making a life, making a vision come into being, you can always pull stitches out, see your next path more clearly, readjust and rework.

It’s hard work, leaving something so beautiful and enduring as your legacy. But look at the amazing thing you’ve done, once you admit what you know, what you don’t, what you’ve done wrong up ’til now, and make the decision to move onward.

I don’t craft quilts, though the gift is in my genes, women on both sides of my family craft working their entire lives. I craft words and thoughts and ideas into story. I miss and mess up more than I nail a concept at first pass. I flounder and struggle and prick my pride and damage my self-esteem and let the language the moment get the best of me, when the vision of the whole is what matters. And then I right myself. I admit my folly. I push on, forgiving what’s not perfect behind me and (more…)

Be smart…

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

Don’t just be an ass. Aspire for more!

Tweety bird smard assjpg

Teach your skeletons to dance…

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014

If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you best take it out and teach it to dance.” ~ George Benard Shaw

skeleton George Benard Shaw

Don’t hide the scars and the mistakes and the embarrassing things that make you uniquely you. Celebrate the chance to dance, to grow and change and be more. And to inspire others who need to dance as much as you do.

Be free, and be aware of how lucky you are to have the chance to make right another day and another choice and another beginning.

Loyalty makes you family

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Blood makes you related. Loyalty make you family.

hunky guy embrace

I dream of families that become, not perfection that arrives already formed. I read, I write, I create worlds where courage and facing the best and the worst together, as one, is family.

Community. Our strength. Attaching to anything less values your “self” meanly. It’s settling. It’s failure, when the threads slip and the weaker falls away.

No perfection, but trust.

No guarantees, but loyalty.

No winning, but together through it all.