A Writing Update

Finally!  I have to remember to bring my laptop to the library more often if I want to update my fans on my writing because the library computers don't let me write in any body text when I try to update my blog.  All it allows me to do is put in the blog title.  It gets frustrating after a while.

ANYWAY...

I haven't made my minimum self-imposed deadline of October 8th to be finished with writing "The Shepherdess Princess" because I haven't been able to write anything new in it for a while.  However, I am slowly making some progress because I printed out what I have so far in the manuscript, which came to 87 pages after I changed the page size to 8 1/2 X 11 and double spaced the document, and am now halfway through editing it in my computer file.

As I've gone through the motions of editing it, I am getting ideas for continuing from where I'm stuck that I jot down for future reference.  I'm ending up with quite the outline I can refer to in order to help me finish the book itself.

Other Writing...

My time struggling with "The Shepherdess Princess" hasn't been a total bust.  A couple weeks ago I wrote a new poem that I added to my manuscript, and over the past couple months I worked on a short story that I submitted to "Chicken Soup for the Soul" a week ago.

This Coming Weekend...

I am going to be working more on finishing the editing I have left, so I can to the rest of the story.  A writing session with a friend may be in order!  ;)  :)

Ten Rules for Writing by Elmore Leonard

I was just about to come on here and share Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules for writing when I saw this posted by a friend on Facebook: "Elmore Leonard, Master of Crime Fiction, Dies at 87."  He was a great writer, and will be missed.

Anyway, I read a book called Behind the Mystery: Top Mystery Writers interviewed by Stuart Kaminsky a while back and I came across some quotes and these ten rules for writing that I copied down into one of my notebooks.  The Ten Rules for Writing was found on pages 25-26 in the book.

Ten Rules for Writing

By Elmore Leonard

1. Never open a book with weather.

If it’s only to create an atmosphere and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long.  The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people.  There are expectations.  If you happen to be Barry Lopez who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

2. Avoid prologues.

They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword.  But these are ordinarily found in nonfiction.  A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it anywhere you want.

There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, but it’s okay because a character in the book makes a point of what my rules are all about.  He says, ‘I like a lot of talk in a book and I don’t like to have nobody tell me what the guy who’s talking looks like.  I want to figure out what he looks like by the way he talks…figure out what the guy’s thinking from what he says.  I like some description, but not too much of that…Sometimes I want a book to break loose with a bunch of hooptedoodle…spin up some pretty words maybe or sing a little song with language.  That’s nice, but I wish it was set aside so I don’t have to read it.  I don’t want hooptedoodle mixed up with the story.’

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

          The line of dialogue belongs to the character, the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.  But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, and lied.  I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with ‘she asserted’ and had to stop reading to get a dictionary.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”.

He admonished gravely.  To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.  The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.  I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write the historical romances “filled with rape and adverbs.”

5. Keep exclamation points under control.

You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.  If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers like Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.

6. Never use “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”

This rule doesn’t require an explanation.  I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

One you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the pages with apostrophes, you won’t be able to stop.  Notice the way Anne Piroux captures the flavor of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

Which Steinbeck covered in Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants: what do the “American and the girl with him” look like?  “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.”  That’s the only reference to physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice with not one adverb in sight.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

Unless you’re Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison.  But even if you’re good at it, you don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

10. Try to leave out parts that readers tend to skip.

A rule that comes to mind in 1983.  Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see too many words in them.  What the writer is doing, he’s writing, perpretrating hooptedoodle, perhaps taking another shot at the weather, or has gone into the character’s head, and the reader either knows what the guy’s thinking or doesn’t care. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.

My most important rule is one that sums up 10:

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite.

Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go.  I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.  It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.  (Joseph Conrad said something about words getting in the way of what you want to say.)  If I write in scenes and always from the point of view of a particular character—the one whose view best brings the scene to life—I’m able to concentrate on the voices of the characters telling you who they are and how they feel about what’s going on and I’m nowhere in sight.

I found some of the rules to be rather comical, and I realized I'm guilty of breaking rule #2, and #6 already in my own novel.  That just means I have something to work on when I get to the editing stage.

I also like seeing how other authors deal with writer's block because everyone deals with it differently.  I took the following quote from page 61 of Behind the Mystery.  It is Faye Kellerman’s answer to a question about writer’s block:

“I have situations where writing comes easier and situations when it comes harder, but I force myself to write something.  The most important thing is not to freeze when it’s not perfect.  Nothing is ever perfect.  Don’t be a baby, and say ‘It’s not coming.’  Work on it.”

Is That a New Post I See?

Yes, it is!  You are not imagining things.  I finally found the time to update my readers on my life since my last post.

1.  I have bridged the gap I was working on in "The Shepherdess Princess," so now I can continue on with the rest of the story.

2.  I've decided to add a bibliography to the back of the manuscript to show my readers what resources I used in bringing the story together.  I've been working on that for the past few hours at the local library because some of the information I printed out from online resources didn't have website information and such.

I'm mostly done with the bibliography now except for the several documents I printed out that has the website information.  I have mostly Wikipedia articles to add to the bibliography now, and then I'll be done with that.

3.  I have started compiling a list of possible publishers I can send my manuscript to when it's done.  Yes, I am that close to being done with the book!  ;)  If I hunker down and write, I'm planning on being finished by October 8th, 2013.  Halloween at the latest!

TEASER

For being such a patient group of followers, here is another teaser from "The Shepherdess Princess" for your reading pleasure:

            As Jazelle and Philippe were walking out of the woods, side-by-side, Jazelle couldn’t help bringing up a subject that was still nagging at her.  “Philippe,” she began, anxious to think what the outcome might be, “Can I ask you to clarify something for me?”

            “Of course,” Philippe croaked out, wondering if he’d live to regret what came next.

            “Back there you said that you were withholding information to protect those you know and love,” Jazelle said, heart racing, “Does that include me?”

            Jazelle’s words caused Philippe to stop in his tracks, and face her.  What should I say? He thought, Should I finally come out with how I truly feel about her?  Would she reject me, or accept me without knowing everything about me?  “Of course, I love you,” Philippe admitted, “You’re my best friend, my only friend, that I’m really close to around here.”

            “I love you, too,” Jazelle’s face beamed as she threw her arms around his neck, and their lips met in a steamy kiss.

            “Whoa,” Philippe said once he was able to push her away before the kiss deepened anymore than it already had, “I didn’t mean it that way!” He lied.

            “Oh, I’m so embarrassed,” Jazelle replied, covering her face with her hands.

            “Don’t be,” Philippe said in an attempt to console her, “I liked it!”

            “Pig,” Jazelle said before pushing him aside as she stormed off.

            All Philippe could do was stand there and chuckle as  he watched her from behind.  “You know, you’re kind of cute when you’re pretending to be angry,” he called out to her.

            Jazelle stopped, turned around, and went charging back to him.  SMACK! Her right hand slapped his cheek so hard it began throbbing instantly.  He dropped the bread he carried onto the ground as his hand flew up to caress the red mark now forming there.  She hurt her hand, too, but was too pissed off to care about the pain as she left him again.

I hope I've left people salivating again.  Maybe the book will actually be distributed to the masses by the next time I have to share another teaser.

I Think I've Conquered my Writer's Block...

I guess my friend's contest was the jolt I needed to get out of my writer's block completely because after I shared the poem I wrote for the contest, I spent a sleepless night writing two more poems.  Here they are:

A Lover’s Lament

“Help me save her,” he pled

As multiple ideas flew around in my head.

I would love nothing more

To do what he asks, but for

Severals months I have been blocked

When it comes to them, and time ticks by on the clock

With his latest plea

Echoing inside of me.

I want to do what he asks,

But it seems like an insurmountable task.

My characters want me to finish what I began

Several years ago, and plan

To find a publisher for.

Teasers have left my fans wanting more.

I don’t like leaving a book unread,

So I’ll have to find time instead

To pluck the ideas from my head

For The Shepherdess Princess to be finished.  Enough said!

Searching for Words

I miss them, too,

And I feel blue

When I think of them

Waiting to be written.

I may not know them yet,

But I still get upset

When I think of all the possibilities

Awaiting my discovery.

I’m searching for words

Among voices unheard.

I will have to pay close attention

To release the friction.

I know it can be done,

And my challenge will be won.

Until the time comes, I have to rely

On my talent and the Big Man in the sky.

I now have a total of 45 pages in my poetry book- The Trifecta: A Collection of Poetry.

But that's not all...

I also spent part of the last couple nights working on The Shepherdess Princess some more.  I still have to figure out how I'm going to bridge a gap I have, but I'm going to start working on that tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.  I did edit some of the story leading up to that spot, though.  Some sections seemed a little wordy, and some parts I wanted to change a descriptor.  I also broke out my French-English dictionary to change some of the dialog.  Don't worry!  I'm only using French words that everybody might know like oui for yes, monsieur for mister, mon princesse for my princess, and mon Dieu for my God.

I also wrote down part of a scene that's going to be near the end of the novel.  I'm going to be finishing that scene this weekend as well.  I had to leave it unfinished last night because I was tired, but it was also getting me a little bit hot and bothered while writing it.  *nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more*  ;) :)  I'll probably have to take a cold shower when I finish writing the scene anyway.  :D  If I had finished it before coming online tonight, I was thinking about sharing it as a new teaser.  That's only if I wouldn't get a reprimand from Google for having it on my blog.  :)  I do want to share a new teaser sometime, but that scene probably won't be it, so my fans will have to buy the book when it's finished to see that.

I have 83 pages total in The Shepherdess Princess so far.

A Contest Entry

My friend, Sara, started a contest on her blog to win a copy of her newest volume of poetry titled Alice at the Spa: Poems and More that was just published through Lulu.   The contest ends on July 31st, 2013.  I was the first entry with this poem:

Down the Rabbit Hole

Moonlight flowing in, dark as blood

How I long for its silvery light to flood

Over me, and save me

From the darkness enveloping me.

Day in and day out it's all the same

While the moon waxes and wanes.

A friend's challenge moves me to write a new poem,

And I'm finally feeling at home.

It's been so long for me creatively

That I jumped at the chance to break free.

Will this poem put an end

To the writing funk I've been in?

I've felt like Alice at the Spa

With my own rabbit hole to fall

Down as I grasp for reality

While fantasy surrounds me.

Whoever greets me in Wonderland,

Will make my life grand.

I would be more than happy to attend

An unbirthday party with all of my friends.

I had such a hard time writing this poem:  I rewrote several lines, I changed the title three times, and I had to change a word in the first line because I left something out.  I was beginning to wonder if I would ever finish writing the poem because of the obstacles I was facing.

I also feel like some people might not understand the significance of the last verse.  I was part of the drama club in High School and played the Dormouse in an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland.  My friend, Sara, who started this contest was The March Hare in the play.

Making a Crack in my Writer's Block...

The past two days I've actually been able to take time out of my day to work on "The Shepherdess Princess" some more.  It felt good to get the little bit down that I did, but I still feel like I have a long way to go.  I'm taking things one day at a time for now.

I've also been kicking around an idea to make some more progress in one of my volumes of poetry that I'm working on, but haven't completely decided if I want to go forward with it or leave what I have in the manuscript as is.  My idea has a lot of cutting and pasting involved.  I also have a poem in my notebook that needs to be rewritten completely.  I was having an off day when I wrote the poem several months ago, and it seems incoherent every time I reread it.  I've been thinking about working on that this weekend.

If the weather where I live isn't too bad, I was thinking about grabbing my writing materials and walking to a nearby park.  Sometimes the solitude, and communing with nature helps me creatively.  I'm also thinking of going somewhere that I could plug in my laptop for a bit, and take the time to write that way.  I was thinking the Public Library would be a good place for that, and I could use the free Wi-Fi access if I come across another subject that I might have to research.  I also might not do that because knowing I could go online would be a major distraction.  I would need somebody with me to hold me accountable, or something.

My First Writing Session of 2013!

After several months of inaction on the writing front, I have emerged a conqueror of writer's block.  I was able to add only a couple paragraphs over the weekend to "The Shepherdess Princess," but I'm still counting it as a victory because I haven't written anything new in so long.

I'm not sure yet when I'll get to make any more progress because I have to spend this coming weekend doing Spring cleaning.  Maybe I'll add a little more to my manuscript during a break from cleaning from time to time.