Writing Lessons Painfully Learned

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So....about that merged manuscript.

You know the one - two different manuscripts, merged together at a whopping 246,100 words, that I have spent the past month trying to whittle down to a reasonable size so I could...er....finish it? Maybe even begin querying this summer?

Yeah. Impossible idea. Absolutely insane. But I'm still working on that.

As of today, the merged manuscript - newly renamed Taproot - is sitting at a much more docile 107,619 words. My understanding is that your average fantasy work is between 120,000 - 150,000 words. So by paring this critter down by more than half, I've given myself ample wiggle room for this beast to grow a bit more once the rewrites begin.

Which is now, actually. Specifically on Tuesday, while my students are taking their final exams. Yay for laptops!

As for the manuscript itself, I've learned a LOT about the higher aspects of writing a novel through this entire experience - and am still learning, to be honest, and will be learning for some time.

Lessons Learned

1.  No writing is so good that it can't be cut, especially if it does nothing to further to story.

2. Nepotism = BAD. If I'm too much in love with my writing in a particular place - it's probably needs to go. Cut it.

3. Don't be a hoarder. Eliminating unnecessary characters is the literary equivalent to taking out the trash. It's a chore to do, but everything smells so much better once it's gone.

4. Switching POVs can be magic. Writing a certain scene from the point of view of a different character can infuse all sorts of life into what might otherwise be a clunky moment.

5. Lose the love handles. When you merge ideas and cut out unnecessary fluff, your tale becomes SO MUCH MORE watertight. As in, you won't believe it until you do it.

6. Less really IS more. When you lose the love handles (see #5), you find that you actually have to explain a lot LESS than you originally thought. (That's true for me, at least.)

7. Be a berserker. Sometimes a bit of #stabbylove requires a battle-axe. (Thank you, Andrew Kincaid.)

8. Don't take too many breaks. If you "lay off" for more than a day or two, getting back into the daily routine of editing and writing is HARD. Too many things claw for our attention any more.

9. Put all your characters to work - so you don't have to. Since I'm notoriously long-winded, I've found that changing POVs now and then not only perks things up (see #4) but also eliminates the need for a lot of expository. If I can show it better through character C's POV rather than letting A and B lecture each other to death - I need to do so.

10. Utilizing #4 and #9 doesn't mean the mystery will be ruined. In fact, if I can manage to utilize my various character POVs wisely, I should be able to ramp up the mystery in unexpected ways.

Have I learned all my lessons well? Tuesday will tell.....

What about you? What lessons have you learned from your writing endeavors?

Let me know in the comments!

(Do You Have a) Life Novel?

I've been very busy lately. VERY busy. What with traveling, teaching, and other work obligations, I've hardly had time to turn around and look at my shadow. Pile on that the added complication that several family members have been racking up frequent flier miles (so to speak) at various hospitals lately, making the past six weeks especially rocky.  Funnily enough, it's at times like this that I feel the strongest urge to write.

Writing is a long-standing habit for me. I started my first journal in second grade* entirely on a whim - I'm not even sure where I got the idea to do such a thing (maybe from my teacher?) - but it certainly marks a major turning point for me. Looking back, I'm inclined to think of that moment as when I truly became a Writer.

I haven't journaled faithfully over the years, though during certain seasons of life I have journaled religiously, and in large quantities. What's interesting to see is the steady trajectory of my life that has been mapped out over the years, in the hodge-podge of notebooks, fancy journals and oddments of typed paper stuck together in old report folders.

This past weekend I was home all day on Saturday, with the hours to call entirely my own. It was such a luxury, I wanted to spend it well. Some of that time I spent rereading old journal entries.

Talk about being transported to another place entirely! If I am never published for the public to read, at least I have the novel of my life written - or it will be, by my journey's end.

Here is a short sample of some of those entries:

December 27, 1983: Today was icy cold. There were even icicles on the volkswagon. Thursday is to be even COLDER. Maybe even SNOW!(**) 

October 16, 1989: Mondays are always kind of looney, but this one was really strange. I don't really know why. Maybe it was because everyone was in a good mood today. That almost NEVER happens. Anyway, I had a pretty good day, except for lunch. _____________ wasn't at school today, so Annual Staff was sort of depressing. We seem to get this kick out of harassing each other. 

September 3, 1994:  Today we went traipsing about in Papa's gardens, picking whatever was ripe. Tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers - we wrenched them off their dewy bushes by the handfuls. We inspected the fig tree, but Papa said those fig-buds wouldn't be ripe for another three weeks. We then loaded ourselves down with baskets and grocery bags, and went to the back yard to pick pears. The tree was so heavy-laden with fruit that two large branches had broken from the weight. 

February 17, 2011: Today went by the used book house...and purchased six books. One is a beautifully illustrated 1946 version of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The other is a 1980 compilation of the correspondence of F Scott Fitzgerald. Apart from my propensity to gravitate toward obscure books (the Correspondence, not the Rubaiyat), the Fitzgerald purchase was a real guilty pleasure...I've decided that between [reading] Mornings on Horseback, Mary Chestnut's Civil War Diary, and now Fitzgerald's Correspondence book, that I am being fairly chased back into journaling again. And it's about time.

(*) The big topic of importance that started my very first journal entry? I had a glass of Five Alive with my afternoon snack. Big news, folks!!

(**) Big news for central Alabama, folks. Trust me.

NOTE: I didn't go a whole fifteen years without journaling...but even so I can see a distinct and sheer drop in my journaling once I had steady and increasing access to the internet....

Ugh. Internet vs "old school" journaling.

Knowing how journaling has defined me over the years really makes this one of my snarky little soapboxes. Obviously I love the internet --- I wouldn't have a blog if I didn't --- but I've got to keep my boundaries clear and well-defined.

I can't give up my old-school journaling. I can't be unfaithful to my original Self.

Do you journal, even sometimes? Is it s safety valve, a creative outlet, 

or a natural extension of your love of writing?

How do you journal - with pen and paper, into a computer file, 

scrapbooking, or something else? Let me know in the comments!

Names We Give Ourselves

Last night an editor on my Twitter feed put up the following status: "#Writers --you're either a writer, or you aren't. 'Aspiring' doesn't cut it; that word is a turnoff. #justwrite."


That line struck an instant chord with me: What do I call myself? The names we give things are always important; and the names we give ourselves even more so. If this particular tweet to is to believed (and it should be, as it's coming from an editor), then adopting the label aspiring writer actually hurts our professional image more than it helps.


So why do we do it? For a rather basic reason, actually. If you're like me, the seemingly logical reasoning  runs through our heads more or less along these lines:


There's the inevitable question. How do I answer?
- Do I call myself an author? 
Well, I'm not published yet. 
- Do I call myself a hobbyist? 
Don't be silly. This is far more important than a mere hobby. 
- Do I call myself a writer? 
Isn't that the same thing as an author? So - no, because I'm not published yet. 
- Do I call myself an aspiring writer? 
Yes - that must be it. A not-yet-published writer working to make it official.
"I'm an aspiring writer, working on..."


That is more or less my own thought process, at least. Tacking the word "aspiring" to the label somehow seems more humble and truthful, since calling yourself simply a writer inevitably stirs up the question: "Where can I find your book(s)? I'd like to check them out." 

So how do we correct whatever damage (albeit unintentional) we've done to our professional name? The steps are very simple, though sometimes they require a good deal of "un-learning" on our part.


Call yourself a writer. Period. Nothing else. Either you're serious about attaining the Writer's Life or not. If you are, then name yourself accordingly. You're not a published author yet? Okay. You can live with that. It's temporary, after all. Just don't do yourself a disservice by calling yourself by a title that means, at an inferred, subliminal level: "fake writer".


Call your work a manuscript, not a "story." This is a serious pet peeve with me. I am constantly exhorting my students and fellow writers to call their work for what it is - a manuscript. Calling it "my story" or "my idea" or "my little project" does the same damage to people's perception of your writing credibility as does mislabeling yourself entirely. 


Make it habit, not hobby. With the mindset of calling yourself a Real Writer with a Real Manuscript, comes the Real Work. Don't just dabble at your manuscript - work on it. Real Work. Every single day. This is such basic writing advice it almost seems a moot point; and yet it is the one thing of which we must be reminded over and over. Why? Because jealously guarding that writing time every day is HARD. But a die-hard habit is the only way to override this weakness.


Have a ready answer. So what do you say when someone asks to see your work? Especially when you're not published? Direct them to your blog or website, for starters. Or have a ready writing sample available "upon request" - a short story, or a first chapter that you don't mind handing off for curious eyes to peruse. If they're serious about wanting to read your work - they'll accept the offer. If they read your work and want to see more, they'll tell you. Perhaps you'll find a good Beta Reader along the way. You never know.

In short: Don't minimize yourself or your dream. It's your manuscript. Your habit. Your inner world. You are that world's creator. Its author. You are the writer. No other name will do.

What do you think? Are you faced with a similar "naming problem" as regards your work?

How do you handle those labels and expectations?