Rachael: I’ve, or rather, my friends have responded to your question about pacing here.

Kim: I’ve responded to your question about bringing it altogether here. I also link to Sherwood Smith’s much better response.

Jenn S.: My answer to your question about being old enough to write characters who are more mature than you is here.

I have a writing question that I always have trouble with. A lot of writers have a distinct style or tone. You can pick it up while you’re reading but, for the life of me, I can’t decipher what gives the writing the qualities that seem to ooze out of the sentences. How do you define style and tone? How do you foster it? Heck, how do you even find your own tone in your work in order to foster it? It’s so hard to pick out the nuances that make writing yours in your own work.

I’m a regular reader of this wonderful blog, although I’ve just lurked shyly for years, never submitting a question or comment until this wonderful post!! I’ve been out of the country and away from my computer for several weeks and so sad that I didn’t get a chance to post this question sooner. I personally have never seen an answer to this specific writing question anywhere, and I just have to imagine it’s the turning point where aspiring writers either finish something, or don’t. Hoping you can help all writer-kind with your answer, or point us in helpful directions!

Here’s my desperate, de-lurked question: how do you organize all the jumbles of idea generating, plot generating, character generating, and so on, in order to see what you have, so you can then take it and put it all together somehow? In my example, I have a 100 page document focused on one story (one novel) only. It has snippets of scenes, plot ideas, potential background for characters, what ifs and opposing what ifs, outlines and ideas for character’s backgrounds, and so on and so forth. Again, it’s specifically focused on one novel and one story idea, but it also includes multiple options for that novel and story idea etc. I’m finding that I can’t move forward with structuring this story without knowing what I even have, i.e. being able to SEE it so that I can make CHOICES about all of the above. I have never quite seen this problem addressed anywhere. I’ve seen info. on generating plot and characters, generating ideas, how to outline, how to write a synopsis etc., but no one tells you what to do with the disorganized mess you create when you’ve done all of the above. How do YOU do it? And have you heard of genius ways others have done it? How do you take your idea-generating mess and turn it into something cohesive to work from?

Thank you!! And thank you muchly for your wonderful, helpful blog. We appreciate it, even if you don’t “see” all of us or know the many very devoted, but shy, lurking regulars.

Monica: My response to your question about research is here.

Hi Justine,

I was hoping you might talk a little bit about pacing. What are your thoughts on it? What kind of methods do you have for making sure things move at a proper pace; how do you tell if it’s too slow or too fast at certain points? Whatever you can tell me about this subject would help. Also, if you feel like passing this around to any of your other writer friends who blog (or if you know of anyone who has already blogged about this), I’d be curious to hear their answers, too.

Thanks so much!

Hello Justine,

I only found your blog for the first time earlier this month and have been devouring it ever since!

I hope I’m not too late with my question, but what I am very interested to know is your thoughts on present v’s past tense for a story. Basically when I first started writing a few years ago I confused the aspect of “active voice” with present tense (oops). So from bad habit ingrained in me since then means I typically write in the present tense thinking I am making the story more immediate, intimate, etc. Buuut I don’t seem do it very well AND I have received comments that maybe past tense would be a better way for me to write even for stories that are happening “now” as opposed to recounting past/historical events.

Thank you again for the great blog too.

Lesley: I’ve answered your question about first chapters here.

In one of your recent posts, you said, “There are many characters in my work that I could not have written twenty years ago.” I was wondering if you could expand on that briefly.

I’ve got a protagonist who I really like, but I keep wondering if I can write her realistically because I have less life experience than she does. I’m 24; she’s 38. I’m single; she’s been married and has kids. I’d freak at the sight of a zombie; she, an experienced mercenary, would immediately hack it to bits—etc. I would love to write her story, but how do I know whether to try it now or to wait a few years until I have more life experience?

How do you know when a manuscript is ready to share?

(I apologize if this has been asked already.)

I don’t know if these questions qualify for this month but I am very interested in your thoughts. They are while writing questions as opposed to how-to writing questions-
What is a good job to have to fund my writing career?
Do you know of any job that will pay me a living wage to read books?
What is a good major in College, especially for an aspiring writer? (I know you are opposed to Creative Writing as a major, but what do you think is a good one?)

Thank you so much for considering my questions.

I just discovered you were doing a series of writing questions this month. That is so awesome! Thank you for taking the time and energy to do this. Several of your posts already have rung bells for me, and the whole series is much appreciated. (((hugs for Justine)))

And I do have a question, too. A while back, you mentioned something about writing out scenes from books you liked in order to try and figure out how they worked and why. It was only mentioned in passing, and you were going to expound on it but never got the chance. (Of course, now I can’t find that post to save me life, and am wondering if I haven’t gone a bit crazy…) I’d like to know more about that exercise.

~Mary

Anna & Carrie: Here’s a few more thoughts on plotting for you.

Sky: Some more on choosing ideas.

Jaya: A wee bit on novel lengths. Elizabeth Bear handles your second question in the comments.

Michelle: A few thoughts on similes.

Thanks again for answering all these questions!

You’ve talked a lot about research and reading other writers to learn from them. How do you go about researching a novel? Do you research before a first draft, after, or while you are writing it? I also have a hard time reading other novels without getting drawn and forgetting to analyze and learn from them. Any tips?

What do you do if you’re just drained? Not stuck, not blocked–you still know what’s going on, you have ideas, you can still write–but you’re completely energy devoid, whether it’s because you’ve been immensely productive or because the outside world has just been piling up obligations. Do you just power on through, or do you step back and take a bit of a break, let yourself recharge?

You’ve mentioned that Ms. Austen ended Pride and Prejudice too abruptly. I have this problem in my writing, too. When the protag’s problem is solved, I end it. Let it go. I would love to know your suggestions about rounding out a story/book instead of letting it drop off (I may leave readers wondering if there were supposed to be more pages that somehow didn’t get printed). Any great ideas?

Hi Justine,

Thanks so much for answering our questions and for offering such helpful information.

My question is about the first chapter. I have no problems getting started with a story, and much like you said, I just start without worrying what it sounds like. I don’t try to make it perfect because I know that for me, that is what rewrites and editing are for.

My problem is the revised first chapter. I’ve written two novels and am about to submit my second novel to agents. I have edited the entire manuscript and think it is ready for submission, but the opening lines, first chapter, etc. are holding me back. I read agent blogs, and so many of them discuss the importance of a great first line, paragraph, etc. Many say they only look at the first two pages, and this terrifies me. I spend so much time trying to perfect these first few pages that I end up hacking it to death to the point that it’s terrible! Any suggestions on editing/revision for the first chapter of the novel?

I know rewrites and edits are a good thing, but is there a point where you shouldn’t tamper with a story anymore?