A.J. Maguire

Tag: Writing Process

  • Writing Lessons – 2016

    With my NaNoWriMo project completed it’s time to start wrapping up the year, and what better way than by reviewing all the things I did right and wrong in regards to writing this year?

    While writing is by its very nature a solitary craft, I’ve discovered that the lessons learned by other, more prominent writers, can sometimes help me improve. So with that in mind I’ll go ahead and share with you, dear reader, the lessens that 2016 has taught me.

    #1) Novelettes are fun. 

    In fact, I’d never even heard of a novelette until I started writing Torven. The little story was too big to be considered a short story but too small to be a novella. While it might look a little silly in paperback form because … I mean … it’s barely a pamphlet … There is the potential of combining many of these little stories into one volume. Which I might do in the years to come, I just have to write more.

    #2) Thorough Outlines Work

    … Sometimes.

    OK, it depends on the story. And it might not work for some authors but it certainly seems to work for me. All the agonizing that I tend to do during the second and third drafts gets dumped into the month-long construction of the Outline, which allows me to tackle the plot from many different vantages until I come up with some really good twists and such.

    #3) Collaborations Work

    For my NaNoWriMo project I had help making the outline. And in fact I intend to keep using that help when it comes to the male POV because … I’m a girl and while I do tend to stick close to my characters to help me flesh them out on the page, I’m still … you know … a girl.

    #4) I enjoy writing Fantasy

    Given that my career started with a fantasy novel (Sedition) this shouldn’t come as much of a shocker, but still … I’ve been writing other genres for so long now that when I sat down to write Torven it was a real joy to write. That’s not to say I will stop writing in the other genres, just that I know I delight in these sorts of books so I will be making an effort to focus on them a bit more.

    #5) I really can write a first draft in 2 months

    It’s hard, but I can do it. So I’ll be fixing my writing schedule to push myself that direction. Editing will take longer, of course, but I can get the skeleton of a story down in 2-3 months and that’s not bad. So long as I have the skeleton to work with, I’m good.

    And that’s it. That’s what I learned in 2016.

    Apart from … you know … the stuff my 8-year-old taught me such as Pokemon (Holy Hannah, why is that so popular?) and Minecraft (again, I do not understand the appeal) and how to dodge a kitten who seems intent on ambushing us around any given corner.

     

     

  • Editing Outlines Take II – Character Depth

    Alright! So last time I talked about the notion of editing an Outline before you begin writing your book. This was a new concept that I learned via the James Patterson Master Class, which I highly recommend to any authors out there who haven’t given it a shot yet. Even if you don’t write suspense, the man’s got some serious skills that you can adapt to your own writing.

    Such as editing an Outline before you begin writing.

    It really is helpful, I swear. And no, my Muse hasn’t exhausted itself on this story-line because I’ve written this detailed Outline. I thought it would, but it hasn’t.

    If anything, my Muse is more jived to be working than ever because editing the outline is allowing me to see the story from all corners, adding depth and tension and character development.

    I’ve combined chapters or cut chapters that had no real use, which I know is going to save me editing time once the rough draft is complete. I’ve explored the peripheral characters enough that I know who they are and what they want and HOW they impact both the story.

    Let me give an example.

    In Tapped I had to edit and edit and edit the character of Kenzie Torda. She kept falling flat on the page because, beyond knowing that I needed her there to cause plotty problems and that she liked music, I hadn’t explored who she was. One of my wonderful Beta readers pointed her out to me (Thank you, LJ Cohen!) and I really struggled with her.

    It made the editing process a bear.

    In fact, I think I had to take a week just to figure her out, and then it took another week fixing everything to give her more depth.

    In Dead Weight – the sequel to Tapped and the book I’m currently experimenting with Outlines on – I have a ship full of people.

    People.

    Not extras.

    Not minor characters there to drive my main characters insane, but real people with real motivations that make sense.

    Like Doctor Morrison Conroy, a single father and brilliant physicist who finds himself confronted by a daughter he barely knows anymore. But rather than focus on his daughter, he points his rage toward the others in the book because that is somehow easier than accepting he might have failed her.

    A lot of tension and strife comes from having this man on board, but more than that … he’s a solid personality and he makes sense. And the trouble he causes (or doesn’t cause) in the book makes sense too.

    But I wouldn’t have discovered this about him until 5 edits later (and possibly a year or two into the work) if I hadn’t done this Outline process first.

    Seriously.

    I was a “pantser” once. And then I was a “start the book as a pantser, end the book as an Outliner” … but I think I’ve been won over by this method.

  • Playing With Craft

    “Are you a pantser or an outliner?”

    “What’s your favorite part of the writing process?”

    “How do you deal with writer’s block?”

    “Where do you get your characters?”

    “Do you hand write the first draft?”

    Over the last few years I’ve heard variations of these questions from different interviews and the like and I have to be honest … at the time I didn’t really pay them too much mind.

    This year, however, I’ve reached the point of my craft where I’ve begun asking precisely why I do things the way I do.

    I “pants” the first half of a novel and then I have to outline it … but why?

    Is an outline too restrictive for the beginning of my process or am I just afraid of losing that spark of inspiration if I try?

    Well, I won’t really know the answer to that question unless I try something different.

    So!

    For the last several weeks I’ve been playing with my craft. Scrivener makes this curiously easy, especially with the 3×5 card approach, so I’ve been working on an outline for a paranormal romance.

    Why not, right?

    Just because I’ve never written in that genre before doesn’t mean I can’t. I’m only limited by myself here, and I’ll only grow if I stretch those boundaries.

    And just to make things interesting … let’s try the young adult market.

    For those who follow this blog you’ll know that I cringe at the young adult market. I disliked High School while I was in it, why would I want to go back, even in fiction? (Though now that I’m working with this outline I believe most authors hated High School and that’s how they infuse the pages with all that angst.)

    Again, we’re looking at self-imposed limitations here and I’ve decided to break free of them.

    And, given that this is a writing experiment, I’ve decided that I’m going to share this process here. This is a writing blog, after all, and maybe what I learn along the way will help someone else.

    As with any experiment, I have to lay some ground rules to follow.

    1. I will post once a week on the project beginning in December.
    2. The post will consist of comparisons between what I used to do, and what I am forcing myself to try. (Example, this book will use an outline from start to finish.)
    3. The Hard Deadline schedule will not be moved. (This means that this is a side project and cannot interfere with what I already have planned for 2016. Which is plenty, just so you know.)

    Those are pretty simple rules. The Hard Deadline schedule will be discussed next month when we start looking at New Year goals, but to help clarify a bit, I’m to begin work on Dead Weight (the sequel to Tapped) on January 1st.

    Yes, this means I will essentially have two books being created around the same time. If it proves to be too much I’ll have to focus on Dead Weight, complete it, and then resume with the experiment.

    That’s the glory of a side project. It can be moved if it needs.

    In the meantime …

    Everyone participating in NaNoWriMo … you’re awesome! Keep writing!

    I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving (if they celebrate it) or just an awesome week!

     

  • Breaking the Outline

    My writing process is a little odd. I can’t start a story with an outline but I can’t finish without one either. Generally speaking I can write three quarters of the book before I have to sit down and map out the last few chapters. This allows my creative mind to build the story focused on the characters and what they’re after without feeling restrained by the outline.

    Residual Haunting, however, has broken every single outline I’ve made for it.

    I’m in the final leg of the journey for our intrepid heroes and I know where I want to end it, weird crap just keeps happening.

    Don’t get me wrong, I know the important bits. I know how and why the witiko escaped. I know it’s hungry and coming for them. And I know what the heroes need to do in order to kill it.

    It’s just that every chapter for the last several weeks has given me something to sit back and go; “Whoa …”

    It keeps breaking the outline.

    Part of me is alright with this. The other part of me keeps looking at my 3×5 cards and wondering how much smaller my handwriting is going to have to get in order to fit everything on there. It’s crazy. If it were any other book I’d set it aside for a month or two and come back to it, but I started serializing Residual back in October so it’s kinda … you know … important that I get stuff written every week.

    This experience is making it very clear to me that I am just not cut out to be a “pantser” … or someone who writes “by the seat of their pants.” At this point I really do prefer to have that outline in place. It helps me know the ending (once I reach it) is going to make sense.

    So … this is me to my WIP; “Knock it off. I’m trying to finish you.”