Keep Your Hands on the Keyboard

I used to believe that when my kids grew up I would have no trouble writing.  But while I have more time now, I am still so busy that I have difficulty keeping my focus on my writing when I do sit down at my computer. It turns out that my kids were just one distraction among many.  So I'm brushing up on how to keep focused to make the best use of the time I've got.  Here are a few things that help, if I will apply them consistently.

• Schedule writing time and make a chart to keep track of word count. This drives home the point that this is a job and inspires organization and control. My boss wouldn't let me get away with being a slouch, so why should I indulge myself?
• Do research first and leave blanks when more information is needed, rather than interrupting the flow to find the answer.
• Write a synopsis/outline/loose outline/list of scenes to point the story in the right direction when the flow of ideas fizzles out. This is for SOTP writers, too.
• Read over the last scene you wrote at your last writing session just to get the juices flowing, but DO NOT stop to make edits. This is to help you pick up where you left off.
• Do not stop to look up details such as the name of the protagonist's dog, the color of her vehicle, her street name, etc.  Leave a blank and fill it in during the editing which comes much later. OR type up a list of these details and pin them to the wall behind your computer screen so you can glance up for the answer without removing your hands from the keyboard.
• Clear your writing space of distractions. Personal effects on your desk or walls are fine unless they remind you of your last vacation when your toes were in the sand and you get a sudden craving for fish tacos and start thinking of what you should make for dinner. Leaving things out in your peripheral vision can steal your attention.
• Keep creature comforts close at hand to discourage you from being tempted to get up and retrieve them.  Kleenex, a drink or snacks of choice, Chap Stick, whatever you need, keep it nearby. Your cell phone does not count as a creature comfort.
• Get comfortable.  Invest in a chair that keeps you from pitching forward toward the screen in a slouch or doesn't cut off circulation in your legs because they don't touch the floor.
• Turn off all electronic devices - except the document you are working on. All social networking is taboo while writing. 
• Set a timer signaling a break or the end of your writing time.  Promise yourself you will not get up until it rings and resist the urge to hold it to your ear frequently to make sure it's still ticking.
• Leave a scene/sentence/word/idea unfinished at the end of the writing time so there is a thread to pick up for the next session which makes it easier to get back into the story. Scribble down the basic direction, in case of forgetfulness.
• If all else fails, at least keep your hands on the keyboard.

We all have to learn tricks that keep us focused on our stories and that make the best use of our writing time.  Can you think of suggestions to add to my list? We'd love to hear!

The X-Files

Wednesday’s post on the “Almost Dead Files” is a stellar example of Latayne’s natural talent and genius.  I think we all agree it would be a crying shame if she never completed the manuscript.  Maybe one day she will be able to fit it into her hectic life.

Out of curiosity, I plugged in my old flash drive and pulled up my first novel with every intention of posting a paragraph or two.  How bad could it be?  After all, it was taken to committee by the first editor who read it.  (Bless her heart)

The story couldn’t have been farther removed from what I now write.  The 50,000 word manuscript was a Gold Rush romance set in early California with a newly widowed heroine who is alone in the world and thrown into dependence on the one she blamed for her husband’s death. I researched at night and wrote scenes during afternoon nap time at my home day care.  The story poured easily from some deeply creative space, so again, how bad could it be?

Um…there are no words for how bad it is, so I won’t subject you to it.  But I will perform an autopsy. Here are some of the classic mistakes I made on my first draft:

Opened too far from the action

Flashback in the first chapter

Predictable premise

Heroine too snarky

Didn’t check the guidelines from the targeted publisher

Didn’t target a publisher

Wrong POV

Superfluous/duplicate characters

Passive word choices (yawn)

Too much description

Overuse of hyphens

Stilted dialogue

Rambling elevator pitch

Here are some things I did right (on the rewrite):

Extensive research, invested in books on life during the Gold Rush

Chopped the first three chapters

Used flashbacks sparingly and farther from the opening

Wrote more natural dialogue

Improved the heroine’s likeability

Researched publishers and modified scenes to meet their guidelines

Changed the POV to first person

Included the hero’s POV

Limited the number of sentences that began with “I”

Cut duplicate, unnecessary characters (or combined them)

Cut description that did not serve a purpose

Added a few twists to the plot

Improved the elevator pitch and practiced it

I deleted more than I added to the final draft. Cut, chopped, changed, limited are words that mean business. I remember that I had to step back from it for awhile before the knife was steady in my hand.  A lot of work had gone into all those words, but I knew the story was better off without them.

 What is the most important thing you learned from writing your first draft of your first manuscript? We'd love to hear!

Searching for Gold Nuggets

A heart-felt thank you goes out to all of our new followers. You’re the ones who make Novel Matters a relevant place for readers and writers of great fiction. Won’t you join the conversation?

Announcement...

From now on, the first Monday of the month is Contest Announcement Day! You're right, today is the second Monday of March, but we have a good excuse. We’ve been working behind the scene to make Novel Matters a welcoming and thought-provoking place to visit. This month’s prize is a Patti Hill library, including Like a Watered Garden, Always Green, In Every Flower, and The Queen of Sleepy Eye. That’s four—count ‘em—four novels for your reading pleasure. A winner will be chosen from visitors who comment on any blog topic from now until the last Thursday of the month. You guessed it. The last Friday of the month will be Contest Winner Announcement Day! Aren’t you glad you stopped by?

Researching a novel is like mining for gold nuggets. And gold nuggets are very difficult to find. You’ll end up sluicing a lot of sand to find a few nuggets to add to your pouch. But once you’ve felt the weight of a burgeoning pouch in your hand, a hunger grows in your writer’s soul for more. You’re never satisfied.

Right now, I’m steeped in research for a novel that will be released in 2010. My office is filled with highlighted books tagged with sticky notes. And I’ve paid way too much for back issues of magazines from the forties to take a peek into the lives of WWII homemakers. A notebook filled with transcribed interviews grows fatter by the day. I’ve watched movies and read novels of that time to absorb the cadence of speech and to authenticate vocabulary. When do I have enough nuggets to stop looking and start writing?

I don’t know!

I’ve been here before. Although The Queen of Sleepy Eye takes place in the mid-70s—and yes, I was there—I saturated myself with the time and the small town that became my setting. Since this book has already been written, it’s easier for me to see the gold nuggets, like bread crumbs left on a trail, that lead me through the story.

I talked to a church secretary who told me a story about an older congregant. She had been troubled by the broken stained-glass windows of her church, so she hired a hippie from a local commune to repair the windows, all without the knowledge of the other congregants. This was just the element I needed to build rising antagonism in the story. Eureka, a gold nugget!

I interviewed a retired pastor on the porch of his log cabin home. We chatted for nearly three hours before he mentioned that his home had been the mortuary in the mid-70s. Not only that, but the home included a trap door for bodies to be lowered to the basement preparation room. Perfect. What better place to test the protagonist’s meddle than a mortuary? I moved her right in. And that trap door, well, it came in handy. Woohoo, another nugget to add to the pouch!

My husband and I stopped by Farmer Frank’s on one research trip to Cordial (AKA Paonia, CO). While Dennis tried on work boots, I talked to the proprietor. About the time of the story, he’d moved to the area as a teen . He remembered being the brunt of pranks as the new arrival in a tight community. His struggle to fit in became a strong motivator for a supporting character who befriends Amy, my protagonist. Thanks to Farmer Frank, I created one of my most memorable characters. Hallelujah! My pouch grew much fatter that day.

I spent hours at the Paonia Library microfiche machine, interviewed a hippie-turned-real-estate agent, collected eggs and fended off a rooster with the help of Pick the turkey, who just happens to play himself in the novel. When did I stop researching and start writing The Queen of Sleepy Eye? Honestly? I counted out the days to my deadline. Oh boy, that got me writing.

As a writer, how do you know when to stop mining for nuggets and start tippy-typing on your computer? Who or what have been your best resources? As a reader, do you trust what you read in fiction to be fact? Are you aware of an author who has bent the truth to suit his/her story? Is bending the truth a deal-breaker for you?

I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.