Some great advice

I rarely ever open my Writer Digest e-mails, mainly because I get so many of them and most of them are about classes and crap. But I opened one today listed "How to push your characters to their limit." I found a few (great!) articles full of useful advice and tips.


http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/how-to-write-a-novel-7-tips-everyone-can-use?et_mid=619701&rid=233569065


The writer goes over a lot and I'll admit I've felt or am feeling a lot of what she's explaining. Plus if you notice on the side of the screen there is a ton of listed blogs and journals from literary agents. Those are very helpful for when your about to start looking into sending queries.

Anyway back to the that link.

I've many helpful things in it that will help me stay on track and keep inspired to write.

• Write the story you’d most want to read
• Begin with character
• Give that character a compelling problem
• Make things happen!
• Make it believable.
• Stick with it the project.
• And lastly: Ignore the rules. 

I've taken each of these to mind and realized I can help myself by putting them to use. For example (I'll use my main character of the novel I'm writing now.) The writer mentions....

"      In my books, I make sure something important to the plot is happening in each scene. And if there’s a scene in there that isn’t helping to move the story along in some vital way, I cut it, no matter how great it is. When I’m editing, I’ll go scene by scene and write a single word sentence describing the action on an index card. Then I lay the cards out and I’ve got the bare bones of my story. I can see if things are moving forward, if I’m throwing in enough twists and turns, and if there are scenes that just aren’t pulling their weight.   "

This is such a great idea! I think I may use this idea for my first novel when I rewrite that later on as well as the novel I'm writing now (When it's done being written and in the editing stage of course) I'm a very visually person so seeing the scene as it is on a note card by itself will really help me picture the plot better. This is a keeper! 

I'm definitely going to have to pick up some of Jennifer Mcmahon's books next time I go to Powells. I'm really inspired by her. And her books sound pretty interesting too. I love finding new authors to read and be inspired by. It just makes my day. 

I'm currently really close to finish editing the last little chunk of my novel. For those just tuning in, I decided to stay (Firmly) writing my novel, The Glass Butterfly and decided to re-read what I had. Once I had a renewed interest I started to edit what I had. I saw a few mistakes and some places I left out words (I do that a lot when I type fast or am tired.) and some scenes I wanted to change. I took out the second character view and replaced that with a new third person, patient transcript view. So I'm trying out some new things and getting rid of some that just didn't sit well with me anymore. 

Right now I am at 21,534 words and 73 pages. Not bad. But I'd like to be close to 30k. My goal is to get half way done or more than half way done by August so when I leave for my next convention at the very end of August I'll be sitting pretty well with my novel. 

I'm taking things slowly, step by step. And I'm finding myself really wanting to improve and try new things. A good sign that I'm interested in keeping with this novel. When I write now I don't think about "will this sell?" or "Will this impress so and so?" I'm thinking about the characters. In visioning the town, the forest, the characters. Thinking about how it would smell or how Zanna's favorite coffee would taste. What would she be wearing? Or how when will it rain next?

Lots of questions are flouting through my head and I'm really becoming excited about writing again. Good bye runt! I've found my will to write again! 

I'm going to leave by closing with something Jennifer wrote...

"It took me four books, two agents and seven years to get my first novel published. It was a long tough road, but so, so worth it in the end!"

Remember. This road is long. It's a journey that can be challenging and frustrating at times. Go pick up your favorite novel. Hold it in your hand and look down at the cover. See the author's name? That person went through the same journey. And you know what? They made it. They're book is sitting somewhere on someone's shelf. You can do it. I can do it. Just believe in yourself. Take your time. Plan things out. Most importantly, have fun.

-Jessica.