Clean up, Clean up...Edits, Edits EVERYWHERE!

My son just a couple years younger...but still a pouter!

“I can't clean up all of this by myself!”

Pout.

“It's too hard.”

STOMP!

And my six year old throws himself to the ground. I pick him up gently, with a smile on my face, and calmly say (through gritted teeth), “just one piece at a time.” And I sing the clean up song while he rolls his eyes and attempts to pick up a lego like it matches his body weight.

Although I am talking about a kindergartner (yes, he STILL hasn't grown out of this!) unfortunately, I can relate—as a writer (and a mom with mounds of laundry, piles of dishes, and legos in every nook and cranny).

On Flickr by BenSpark

I am in the middle of rewrites and came up with a fabulous twist that will give my characters motivation, my scenes raison d'etre, and my overall plot, cohesiveness. But when I think about actually putting my fingers to the keyboard and opening up the manuscript file to begin my reconstruction, I clam up!

Ugh! How can I even manage to do this with two hundred plus pages already filled with words, and colored with characters already active in my story? It's daunting to say the least.

But...just like I told my son, “one piece at a time”...if I focus on one scene at a time--how I am going to redefine the motivation, reconstruct the scene so it pushes the story toward the new twist, and focus on maintaining and deepening the characters WITHIN that scene--it becomes less overwhelming.

It is less of scooping up several bricks at once and losing some in the process,
but more of placing the tiny pieces in the bin one at a time while anticipating the potential of a whole new creation later on.

On Flickr by Oskay

The great thing about legos, is you can construct and reconstruct. You can set aside old creations for later use, or recreate to build something completely new.

My son is mighty proud when his mess is finally clean. And the next day, when he pulls out the lego bin and builds something from the pieces of an old aircraft or township, he holds his perfected creation up with pride and says, “Look what I made!”

One at a time. Clean up those manuscripts one edit at a time. Don't look at the giant mess on the floor, but look at the building blocks you have created and continue to edit with patience and focus.

Soon...you might just have a tidy draft of great potential!
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across historical cultures and social boundaries. Angie is an ACFW member and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Excuses, Excuses! What's Stopping You From That Rewrite?

 I pushed forward, consuming my first draft in edit mode. I rekindled my love for my story, characters, and setting. A few tweaks here, a few deletes there. All the while, there was a tug in the back of my mind, trying to slow me down. It was coming, and coming fast. The sleeping monster's snore was getting louder, reminding me of what lay ahead.

It can't be that bad, I kept telling myself.

After all, I didn't have any major problems, just adding a few scenes for punch. Surely my memory failed me. I didn't really have a tangled mess in chapter twenty four. I probably just needed to erase and replace, brush away that old plot thread, and weave in the one I intended.

No problem. Piece of cake.

Eh. Not so much.

That sleeping monster: the not-so-great chapter....opened its lazy eyes, and began to stretch its arms, shoving away all my attempts to avoid picking him up and plopping him in the trash. It would be a struggle, wouldn't it? Too much time to try and fill in the giant gap his absence would leave. Perhaps I can just dress him up, so he “looks” good. Maybe, just maybe, he's not so bad after all.

And the little girl inside of me fell to the floor kicking and screaming:

"Please, please, please don't make me start over!"

Today, from my own experience, I want to suggest three excuses that may try and distract you from that task at hand, that inevitable step to truly polishing your manuscript before submission...even if it means that horrible word: REWRITE.

Excuse #1: Tweak what you have to fit your new plot line. So, in my case, I needed to readjust the plot. During that first draft, I had gone down a rabbit hole, and while it might have been an intriguing story line, it really was for a whole different book altogether. But, I really liked my set up, my language, the whole “feel” of the scene. There is a major problem though, when you try and fit a new scene into an old one...your characters throw a fit.

Consider your arc: would your character really do that, say that, or find themselves in that place on this new journey you've invented?

You can't just peel away the top layer and slap a new layer on it. You've got to consider the whole onion (as one particularly green monster would say. Any guesses?).

Excuse #2: Ignore your gut, it is good enough. But is it? You've written a whole manuscript. Certainly that tucks some more-refined skills in your writer's pocket? Each page you write, gives you the chance to get better. Why else do you edit, anyway? So, when you get to that scene you may have written a couple months ago, don't settle for last month's “good” when this month's good might have reached a whole new level.

Consider your own growth as a writer: Is this scene truly reflecting your best creativity, your strongest representation of the story in your head? Or does it have a hand-me-down feel, a poorly sewn patchwork of character motives?

Excuse #3: After excuse #1 and excuse #2 wasted away my time, I heaved that ugly monster and tossed him in the trash. But then came something that has not visited me for a long time: 

Writer's block.

Yeah, my plot was off, and what I thought would help was a good ol' fashion tweaking. That obviously didn't work. So now what? How can I make this worth reading to, reading thru, and hooking the reader for what's to come?

I found three things that sparked my creativity, choose one or more: 
 Crit partner brainstorming session: This is my favorite. My crit partner knows my story and my characters almost as good as me. And she also knows me. When I ask for her advice on a new plot thread, or keeping an old one, she can see through my laziness in not wanting the change, or she comes up with questions that dig deeper than the plot that's blinding me from what my characters want and need. It's always nice to have a second pair of eyes no matter what part of the process you are in, but when writing block hits, crit partners can be huge in breaking down that wall!

Research: No matter if you write historical or suspense, sci-fi or women's fiction, research doesn't just happen before you write. Sometimes you need to tap into research to spur on what's going to happen next. Since I write historical, I can look at events of that time, and decide how would my character react to them? Or perhaps there are other people's stories you come across that spur an idea? Would this be good to include in your plot to push your story forward? Even if it's a tid bit of research, if it gets you into your character's head and on to paper (or screen) then you can write yourself out of writer's block.

Take a break and read: Let your writer's mind rest. Step away from the story and jump into someone else's world for a while. Sometimes we focus so much on our own story's jagged edges, that we can't remove ourself from the snag to see the bigger picture. And sometimes, your creative juice bank needs to be filled up...which usually always happens when you dive into someone else's art for a while!

Do any of these stop you from moving forward in your rewrites? What other excuses have you told yourself to keep from writing the best for your story?
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

Rehearsal notes for Your Rough Draft

Have you ever been in, or watched a play rehearsal? The actors have their scripts and pencils in hand, and as the director calls out his suggestions, the actors take notes. Perhaps, an actor delivers his line in a bold voice and the director decides the line should be spoken soft and sharp. The actor scribbles his suggestion in his script. Sometimes the director will have the actors repeat the scene with the new notes, or sometimes, the director's comments and suggestions will be taken and performed at the next rehearsal.
 If every comment from the director is expected to be hashed out by the actor at that very moment, then opening night would be pushed back further and further. Actors take notes so they can apply them to their next take on that scene.
And this is how we as writers should consider our rough drafts. When we write our stories for the first time we should focus on developing our character arc and plot. Any reworked scenes or added ones, holes in research, loss of words, should be noted for later.
It's easy to get caught up in perfection and continually go back and edit and fill in and rewrite, but that opening night (the final "the end" or the agent appointment) will fade in the distance.

Here are a few ways I prevent my momentum from stalling as I truck along on my rough draft:

Holes in Research: Whether you need to research an Old West saloon or a pyschotherapist's office in upstate New York, most novels need research of some sort to maintain their believability. Unless your research is key to moving character and plot forward, I suggest listing out your research needs as you go. In my rough draft, I put them at the top of Chapter One, so the first thing I will do in my edits is fill in the research gaps. (Blogger cuts off some of my files, but you'll get the gist)

 Loss of Words: It's hard to believe a writer would have a loss for words, but please tell me I am not the only one! I could pour out wonderful sentences and type deep pov, but without fail, I'll have a word here or there that just doesn't feel right, or is not coming to me at that moment. Also, I might need a proper name (like in my example) and I don't want to stop my pace to search for it. This is where the highlight tool in Word-like programs comes into use. It's a great way to point out repetative words or cliches to be touched up in the next draft round.
 Scene Ideas: When you are trying to hash out characters, you might realize that you need another scene to give the reader insight into something specific...Or, if your plot jumps in an unnatural way, say, your heroine falls in love with the hero just after she learns something awful about him, you'll realize a scene might need to squeeze in to enhance your story. My problem is, if I have gotten to one part in the story that I am pumped about where it's going, I may not be in the mood to go back and write THAT new scene at that moment. So, I make a note (like below) and save that scene for later, but giving myself enough of a note so I remember what I wanted to write.
 Future Chapters: Some of you plotters might think this next one is ridiculous. But trust me, for this wanna-be plotter who just gets carried away with writing ahead of myself, this has helped me immensely. At the end of my rough draft, I always list out my future chapters with a snippet of what is going to happen. When I go on to the next chapter, I have a reminder of what's to come (I include the page numbers to help with my pacing).

 For example,  

105-115- Chapter 13- Leanna confronts Stavi about his wife...it's not the same. Stavi says you were angry with him for all this time...anger... 

Yeah, I usually change it around, or come up with something different, but it's nice to have the future laid out so I can purposefully move my novel forward. I usually tweak these as I think and type, and as my characters inevitably take me in new directions.

Your turn. What do you do to keep your momentum in your rough draft without getting caught up in editing? Do you think this is different for plotters vs. pantsters?
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Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

Stuff Those Envelopes!

My fellow writers, readers, and Alley Cats, will be the first to preview the Dicken Christmas card!

I was so thankful the weather was nice on Thanksgiving day, because that was when I planned to take shots of the kids in our new yard. We were blessed with a fabulous fall this year!
As I sat and organized my addresses, requested more via email, deleted some, figured out who was getting a 5x7 of the kids along with their card...etc. I couldn't help but feel frustrated and overwhelmed with my poor attempt at being organized.

I am not Type A (period)

The frustration was released magically when I started stuffing the envelopes. I just crammed the cards in them even though I had a pile of unfinished addresses since I was waiting to hear from those friends and family members. I began to add to my pile of ready-to-stamp envelopes, and the “unedited” ones were less intimidating.

Isn't this how writing is? Whether you're trying to get those words out for that first draft (I am sure many NaNoWriMo participants are wincing at that statement...it was a long month, huh?), or struggling through edits...Doesn't it sometimes feel great to just stop the struggle, and tie up loose ends elsewhere?

• If you are working on completing a draft and are stuck, just get away from that scene or chapter, and start writing a scene that is stuck in your head, desperate to get out. Who knows, you might just discover a brilliant turn of events for your character that will fix that sagging scene you were working on.

• If you are trying to get through edits, and are feeling discouraged...step away. Take a break. Enter a contest. Work on another idea for a bit. Find something to COMPLETE (maybe a good read?) and feel rejuvenated.

• And if you are trying to cram 100 Christmas cards in the mail by Christmas, and just don't have it together...cram 25...today, then a few the next. This might drive some of you crazy...I am thinking Plotsters more than Pantsters? But get SOMETHING accomplished, you'll feel so much better. ;)

I hope you have a very MERRY Christmas, and remember, all the stuff is just that, STUFF. Most importantly, there is a little baby in the manger who wants to be your best friend...nothing else compares to that!
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 Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.