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This post is a reference post for my convenience. It's taken from my large post on
rewriting from a few years back. With some additions that I've noticed crop up in my writing more recently. (The horror.)
When I get my novel to the point where I think it's finished I have a ritual of searching on the following words. These are all words I have a habit of overusing. I'm always sure that I will have learned my lesson, that with each finished novel I will find I've overused fewer words. But, um, I appear to be a very slow learner indeed. Spoiler: I always overuse the majority of them. *Sigh*
These are the offending words:
And
eyebrow (raise, lift)
eyes
glance
good
got
gotten
had
head
just
look
mouth (open, close)
nod
really
seem
shrug
sigh
slowly
smile
so
still
stood
suddenly
then
very
walk
---
None ...
Posted by Justine at 8:57, April 23rd, 2013 under Sydney novel, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
If there's one thing I hope I have made clear in the ten years (!) I have been sharing writing advice here it's that there are as many different ways to write as there are writers. If some writing advice doesn't work for you, then ignore it, try something else.
Some writers plan, some writers wing it. Some writers compose their drafts in their head and only when they deem it to be perfect do they start typing words. Some writers do their first drafts with pen and paper (shudder). Some writers start at the end of their story and work backwards. ((I'd love to try that last one but as I never have any idea how my books are ...
Posted by Justine at 11:00, January 15th, 2013 under Writing life, Writing process |
This comment from Rachel on
my post of the other day:
This is a big issue in the Urban Fantasy genre too. I’ve started more than one series where the MC, despite being thirty-something with a job and developed asskicking abilities, has zero friends and no previous relationships. (Teacher of asskicking? No, conveniently dead just like other parental figures? What about cowor- no there too? Not even other independent psychic investigators? Okay, then. Friends? Okay, okay. Just asking.)
Rachel put her finger on something that drives me nuts in many movies/tv shows/books etc. The mighty arse-kicking protag who is the master of many martial arts but no longer studies any of them. They've had their training montage and now ...
Posted by Justine at 8:00, September 24th, 2012 under Ranting, Sport, Viewing, Whingeing, Writing process |
Way back when I wrote
a guide to writing novels aimed squarely at first time novelists. It was very practical and kind of silly. Remarkably, many people have found it useful. But yesterday
Ksenia Anske reminded me that I neglected to say the most important thing about writing your first novel:
The main thing you’re doing with your first novel is learning how to write a novel.
Think of it like making bread. The first loaf I made was rock hard. Seriously I could have killed people with it. My next loaf was inedibly salty. The third kind of bland. But slowly each loaf became better than the last. I started to learn what the dough should feel like as ...
Posted by Justine at 7:51, September 20th, 2012 under Writing process |
All my favourite fiction, whether novels or television, features strong relationships. I've started to think that for me the hallmark of good writing is, in fact, the strength of the relationships. So many books/movies/tv fail for me because the protag either doesn't have any relationships or because those relationships are constructed out of cardboard.
And, no, I'm not solely talking about the lerve and the shipping. I'm talking all relationships: with mother, father, siblings, uncles, aunts, children, nieces, nephews, cousins, colleagues, neighbours, teachers, coaches, and most especially, friends.
One of the things that attracted me to YA as a genre is that so much of it is about friendship and family relationships. It's why every time I read a YA book that ...
Posted by Justine at 8:17, September 18th, 2012 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
My last post may have given the impression that I am not a fan of rewriting. So not true! I loves it.
For me the first draft is the least fun because I’m never quite sure I have a novel until there’s a complete draft. The Sekrit Project is the first solo novel I've finished since 2008 so finishing this year was a HUGE RELIEF. I honestly wasn't sure if I would. If I knew how to write novels anymore. That made the first draft---even the most fun times of writing it---stressful.
So no matter how unfun some parts of the rewriting process are I have none of that anxiety: because I have a manuscript. I mean, yes, it's a less ...
Posted by Justine at 8:34, September 14th, 2012 under Praising, Sydney novel, Vainglory, Writing life, Writing process |
Went for a long walk yesterday through Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Rushcutters Bay. It's spring here and almost everywhere smelt like jasmine. ((
Sorry, Margo, but it truly did.)) The sounds weren't quite as lovely. Spring seems to be the season of renovations in Paddington so the hills were alive with the sound of jackhammers. That and really pissed off birds. One of which shat right in front of me: had I been a fraction faster . . . splat of eww on my head. ((No, I don't care that it's meant to be good luck.))
Mostly I was thinking about Sekrit Project, which I've been rewriting since THE DAWN OF TIME and seems to be getting no closer to as ...
Posted by Justine at 12:25, September 13th, 2012 under Ideas, Listening, Praising, Sydney novel, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
It is almost impossible to avoid writing work that can be read as racist. If you're writing about people, you're writing about identity, and a huge part of identity is race.
We are all seen through the lens of race. We all see through the lens of race. ((Yes, even if you think you don't see a person's race.)) Whether we're conscious of it or not. If you're a writer you really need to be conscious of it. Because if you don't think you are writing about race, you can wind up writing things visible to your readers that are not visible to you.
Often that is a not good thing.
When our work is accused of racism we writers tend to curl up into foetal position and get defensive: I AM NOT RACIST. I AM A GOOD PERSON. HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT?
First of all---no matter what the actual wording---it's our work that's being called racist, not us. The reviewer does not know us---only what we have written.
Secondly, we live in a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, classist etc. world. The odds of none of that leaking in to our work is zero. No matter how good our intentions. Besides intentions don't count for much. If it's not there on the page how is any reader supposed to guess what was in your head? On the other hand, there is no way you can completely bulletproof your work against criticism. Nor should you want to. Criticism will make you a better writer.
Thirdly, it's not about us. It's about the reader/reviewer's life and experiences, about what they bring to the text in order to make meaning. This is how we all read and this is why we all have such different views of the same texts. It's why I think Moby Dick is the worst, most boring piece of crap I've ever endured and why many people, even some whose views I respect, ((Hello, Megan!)) think it is a work of genius.
We writers have to accept that despite due diligence, despite how careful we are, readers' responses to our work are exactly that: their responses. They will not always read our carefully crafted, thoughtful words the way we want them to. Sometimes they will find meanings in our work we did not intend them to find.
What follows is a discussion of how I have dealt with having my last solo novel, Liar, criticised for racism and transphobia. If you have not read Liar there are spoilers, though I have kept them to a minimum. But here's a cut anyway:
Posted by Justine at 7:40, September 5th, 2012 under Feminism, Liar, State of the World, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
I don't know who first called it process porn but me and many of my friends like,
Gwenda Bond, call talking about how we write "process porn" and have done so for ages. ((Is it from that Pat Cadigan book where every obsession is called some kind of porn?)) There's something delicious about getting together with a bunch of writer friends and talking about how we dealt with this or that problem. "Once I realised the mc hates water the whole book opened up!" "The switch from third to first person was what nailed it." "Wrong pov. 30,000 words in and I realised it should be from the sister's not the brother's pov. Aargh!"
It feels wicked and indulgent ...
Posted by Justine at 7:13, August 9th, 2012 under Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
As I may have mentioned, once or twice, I recently finished the first draft of my Sekrit Project novel. And, yay verily, I was full of joy. There was dancing. Bouncing. Happiness and even more joy.
After the joy I spent a few days tinkering with it, fixing the egregiously rubbishy bits, adding things that needed adding, moving chapters around. As you do.
Then I sent it off to my wondrous, fabulous, worth-more-than-their-weight-in-mangosteens-and-other-precious-things first readers.
Then I kicked back and watched loads of Olympics and blogged and did many things that have nothing to do with Sekrit Project. And there was more joy.
After a week there was still some joy on account of OLYMPICS OH HOW I LOVE THE OLYMPICS but there ...
Posted by Justine at 12:20, August 8th, 2012 under Praising, Sport, Sydney novel, Writing goals & milestones, Writing process |
I have a writing problem which is shared by many writers: I struggle to get started.
I wrote about this problem a bit
way back in 2009 when I confessed to almost destroying my professional writing career before it even started. The first six months of being a full-time freelance writer was one great big procrastinatory guilt-ridden hell.
Since then I have reigned it in so that it's only a struggle at the beginning of a first draft.
For the first week or so on a new book it is a major effort for me to look away from whatever online or offline spectacle is calling to me in order to start typing. I'll have the open scrivener project with ...
Posted by Justine at 6:58, August 7th, 2012 under 1930s NYC novel, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, RSI, Research, Sydney novel, What to write next, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 5:21, July 20th, 2012 under Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
I've had several folks respond to the discussion of
bad reviews and bad books pretty much as Trudi Canavan did in the comments:
"I stop reading. Life is too short for bad books."
To which I can only respond, well, yes, obviously. One of the great pleasures, for me anyway, of being an adult is finally realising I am under no moral compulsion to finish every book I start. I can put boring books down! I can walk away from bad books without being sullied by reading the whole thing! Oh happy day!
On the other hand---and I know this is not just me---sometimes I really enjoy reading a bad book. It has to be a particular kind of bad. ...
Posted by Justine at 6:34, July 12th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Reading, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
In the comments on Writers and Editors,
Sarah Dollard delivered a fascinating treatise on how TV scripts are produced and what a script doctor does. I could not let be lost in the comments so here it has its own post. Take it away, Sarah:
As requested, here's a rundown of how the process differs in television.
The job of the TV script editor can vary wildly from show to show, genre to genre, country to country. I can only speak about working on soap in Australia, and on numerous dramas here in the UK, as both writer and a script editor. From my limited understanding of the system in the US, things seem very different there; they don’t strictly have ...
Posted by Justine at 8:06, July 11th, 2012 under Guest post, Writing life, Writing process |
Last month I got into a discussion on twitter---inspired by this
Jennifer Crusie post---about the extent to which an editor can rewrite their authors. Crusie thinks NOT AT ALL and I completely agree and said so, which led to a back and forth with a good editor friend of mine,
Juliet Ulman, who said she rewrites her authors. I happen to know many authors who've been edited by Juliet and love her editorial style ((I had my editor submit my one adult novel to Juliet because I'd heard such good things. It didn't work out but I mention this because I want to make it clear how much I esteem Juliet's editorial acumen.)) and it became clear to ...
Posted by Justine at 0:22, July 10th, 2012 under Publishing business, Ranting, Team Human, Writing life, Writing process |
@DaniArostegui asked "Can you write a post on the research process for your novels? How much research do you do for a given book?"
The book I'm writing at the moment, Sekrit Project, was inspired by a non-fiction book. So one of the first things I did was work my way through the articles and books listed in the bibliography. Each of which led to other books and articles and so on. Footnotes and bibliographies will lead you in many wonderful and unexpected directions.
When I'm writing a book set during a different historical period as I am with my 1930s New York City novel I immerse myself in the music, literature, movies, radio, fashion, food (via cookbooks and restaurant reviews) ...
Posted by Justine at 5:41, July 6th, 2012 under 1930s NYC novel, Research, Sydney novel, Writing process |
Well, this is exciting. A whole month of me blathering at youse. And, hopefully, youse lot blathering back at me in them there comments below.
I'm overcome with joy at the prospect. So overjoyed that I know that I said I wouldn't blog on the weekend but this year the 1st of July is a Sunday and I couldn't not blog on the very first day of my blogging month, now could I?
I thought I would start with some frivolity. Did you see
#badwritingtips on twitter? There were some truly awesome ones. I loved
Elizabeth Knox's "Begin as many sentences as possible with a verb + 'ing', it makes everything so much more active." Cracking good advice! ...
Posted by Justine at 8:55, July 1st, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Team Human, Writing process |
I have decided to put this here voice recognition software to the test in the month of July by blogging every day. ((Except weekends. Cause, come on, no one is on the intramanets on the weekend. Scientific fact.)) Yes, I will blog every single day of July 2012.
Tell Me What To Blog
If there's anything you would like me to blog about please let me know! The comments are below in the manner of most blogs. ((I thought about having them above but my web designer said no.))
I've had a few suggestions on Twitter:
@SirTessa wants me to write a complete post without correcting any of the voice recognition software mistakes. I WILL DEFINITELY DO THAT.
@WanderinDreamr wants me to ...
Posted by Justine at 22:37, June 12th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fashion, State of the World, Team Human, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Since a few of you expressed mild interest in the speech I gave at
Sirens in October last year I thought I would share it with you. The theme was monsters and my speech involved me showing many monstrous images. Yes, that's my disclaimer, I wrote this to be spoken to a real life audience with funny pictures and the funny may not work so well without the kind and appreciative live audience. Or something. *cough*
Here it is:
Monsters I Have Loved
Ideas = Brain Monkeys According to Maureen Johnson
Like every other writer ever I get asked “where do you get your ideas” a lot. Today I thought instead of answering that question in the ...
Posted by Justine at 7:02, May 31st, 2012 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Feminism, Ideas, Ironical (This is Writ), Listening, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing, Writing life, Writing process |
Below is a story that I wrote in my late teens. I remember the day I finished it. I was so full of joy and pride in my genius. It was the best story I had ever written. (True fact. I was rubbish back then.) Maybe even the best story anyone had ever written!
Posted by Justine at 8:08, April 26th, 2012 under Team Human, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
Every time I mention
my RSI people suggest that I use voice recognition software. I do use it. And though I hate it I know that it has transformed gazillions of people's lives. There are people who literally could not write without it. For them VRS is a wonderful transformative thing. Bless, voice recognition software!
I am well aware that what VRS is trying to do is unbelievably complicated. Recognising spoken language and reproducing it as written language is crazy hard. ((Very few humans are one hundred per cent accurate at the task. Even court reporters make occasional mistakes.)) The way we make sense of what someone says is not just about recognising sounds. We humans (and other sentient beings) ...
Posted by Justine at 8:42, February 17th, 2012 under RSI, Ranting, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2012. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the "last day of the year" tag.)
This was not a fabulous year for me but it was a whole lot worse for so many other people around the world that whingeing would be tacky. I'll focus on the good:
Finally, finally, finally we were able to announce,
Sarah Rees Brennan and I, that we wrote a book together, Team Human, ...
Posted by Justine at 11:02, December 31st, 2011 under 1930s NYC novel, Food, Garden, Last Day of the Year, Praising, RSI, Team Human, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Zombies v Unicorns |
I have very exciting NEWS!
I wrote a book! The book is sold! It will be out early next year!
Even more exciting and this is the best part: I DID NOT WRITE THIS BOOK ALONE.
I wrote it with
Sarah Rees Brennan, who is not only a wonderful friend, but one of my favourite writers.
The book is called Team Human. It will be published by Allen & Unwin in Australia and Harper Collins in North America and will be out 3 July 2012.
And here is the cover, which totally proves this is all real:
(We got to sit in on the photo shoot for it. Fancy, huh?)
Writing Team Human was the ...
Posted by Justine at 3:22, September 17th, 2011 under Team Human, Writing life, Writing process |
I've been promising a post about writing Liar using
Scrivener for two years now. It wasn't a fake promise. I've been working on the post. But given
my hassles with RSI and othe injuries it's been slow going.
A friend asked about it recently and I realised that I haven't touched the post in a year. The odds of my finishing it are low. When I spend my scant few hours at the keyboard I focus on my novels, not blog posts. So here is my unfinished and pretty rough account of writing Liar using Scrivener:
In the acknowledgements of Liar I wrote the following: "Without
Scrivener this book would most likely not exist." Ever since people ...
Posted by Justine at 3:37, August 25th, 2011 under Excuses, Liar, RSI, Writing process |
I hates it.
Before I typed a lot faster. This thing slows me down and drives me crazy.
This software does not learn. Instead it tries to school me. I have had to change the way I speak so it can understand me. Slower, with more precise diction, like I am impersonating a robot. I do not feel like myself when I use it.
I never intended to use it for novel writing only for e-mail and blogging and twitter and the like. But even there this software destroys my natural voice. Who spells e-mail with a hyphen! It does not recognise any of the slang, abbreviations, or made up words that I use and, of course, homonyms are a mighty pain. ...
Posted by Justine at 3:40, August 12th, 2011 under Admin, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing process |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Margo Lanagan is probably the award winningest Australian YA writer of all time. She deserves every single one. When I'm asked who I think the best living YA writer is, which is a really dreadful question given how many wonderful ones there are and how I ...
Posted by Justine at 12:04, April 19th, 2010 under Guest post, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Writing process |
Why do so many people read any statement, no matter how innocuous, as being about them? For example, I have mentioned my dislike of chocolate and people have gotten cranky. As if my chocolate hatred will somehow deprive them of it. Huh?
Every time I talk about my love of fashion someone says, "I just want comfortable clothes! Give me jeans and t-shirts!" Which always strikes me as deeply bizarre because a) no one has said a word against jeans and t-shirts, b) t-shirts and jeans are items of fashion, c) having a desire for a ballgown does not mean that person doesn't also wear jeans and t-shirts. (For the record I am wearing jeans and a New York Liberty ...
Posted by Justine at 21:41, March 23rd, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fashion, Ranting, State of the World, Writing process |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Kristin Cashore is one of the bright new stars of YA fantasy. I met her at a Books of Wonder event last year and we had a lovely time gossiping talking of serious matters and have been pen pals ((I love the phrase "pen pal." It's so ...
Posted by Justine at 17:01, March 16th, 2010 under Guest post, Praising, Writing life, Writing process |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Claire Light is many things including a writer, a blogger extraordinaire, and a teacher. She provides this blog with its first guest post on how to write, which is odd. I was kind of expecting that there'd have been more than one by now. See what happens ...
Posted by Justine at 19:37, March 9th, 2010 under Guest post, Writing process |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
I just want to make it clear that I'm only letting Diana be a guest here because she has threatened me with a fate worse than death. Mind you, she's already mentioned uni**rns like ten times. Surely that's a fate worse than death? My blog has been ...
Posted by Justine at 17:39, March 8th, 2010 under Guest post, Ideas, Writing process |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
David Levithan's a writer, an editor, and class president of the NYC YA scene. He got the YA drinks night going and the NYC YA Lit Festival. He does not sleep and must be at least part cyborg. (Or there's more than one of him, which his ...
Posted by Justine at 23:59, March 3rd, 2010 under Guest post, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's blogger, Lauren McLaughlin, is a crazy talented YA writer, who has one of the more unusual backgrounds of all the YA novelists I know. She used to be a Hollywood producer. This means that she has more confidence than anyone else I know and is extraordinarily good ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 24th, 2010 under Guest post, State of the World, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Varian Johnson is not only a wonderful writer---you must read
My Life as a Rhombus---he's also an engineer who builds bridges. Real ones that you can walk or drive on. Why, yes, I am very impressed. Varian's yet another writer who has a job in a completely ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, February 23rd, 2010 under Guest post, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's guest, Robin Wasserman, is one of my fave YA writers. She mentions her brilliant recent trilogy below, but she's written many other novels besides. If you have not read any of them, I insist you go forth and do so now. Well, not, now now, after you've ...
Posted by Justine at 19:25, February 9th, 2010 under Guest post, Ideas, Writing life, Writing process |
Well, it's of note to me, maybe not to many other peoples.
Writing is FUN. It is multo happy making.
That is all.
Go about your business!
Posted by Justine at 23:53, January 30th, 2010 under Writing life, Writing process |
Irish writer,
Sarah Rees Brennan, and I spend a lot of time IMing each other. We talk about many, many different things---including the superiority of Ireland and Australia to all other nations ((Just kidding.))---but mostly about writing. Recently when I was unwell SRB cheered me up by telling me the story of two of her not-yet-written novels. It was better than chicken soup! As any of you who have read her novel,
Demon’s Lexicon, or
her blog know, SRB is a wonderful storyteller.
It was not the first time SRB had told me the complete detailed plot of an as-yet-unwritten novel but this time I started wondering about how she does that. When I write a novel I ...
Posted by Justine at 17:42, January 26th, 2010 under Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Thank you so much for all the
wonderful, moving, scary, funny stories about hair.
I wanted to highlight this comment from
Wonders of Maybe because it underlines how hair and fashion and politics and identity (self and imposed from the outside) co-exist:
Hmm --- I'm multiracial (Black/Native American/White) and very, very light-skinned with extremely thick, curly hair. I'm talking spirals on "good" days and fluffy frizz on "bad" days! When I was young I wanted to straighten my hair because of how much I got hassled but once I turned 12, I was intent upon my hair staying natural. With such light skin, I feel it's an honest indicator of what I am and who I am since ...
Posted by Justine at 21:45, January 5th, 2010 under Fashion, State of the World, Writing process |
Searching for something else entirely, I stumbled across
this old post from March 2007 where I asked my faithful readers to help me choose what to write next. I decided it would be fun to do an update. Fun for me, anyways. ((Hey, it's the holidays no one's reading this right now.))
First on the list of possibilities is this one:
The compulsive liar book narrated by a—you guessed it—compulsive liar. Downside: will involve lots of outlining. I hates outlining. Plus it’s going to be so hard! Upside: whenever I mention this one folks get very excited.
Sound familiar? Why, yes, it's the book I wrote next: Liar which published in September this year. As it happens it involved no outlining at ...
Posted by Justine at 19:59, December 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Love is Hell, What to write next, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Micah, the first person narrator of Liar, is very explicit about music not being her thing:
I hate music. It hurts my ears, my brain. Even the membranes in my nose. Any music. All music. I can’t distinguish between hip hop and hillbilly ramblings, between symphonies and traffic noise. All of it hurts.
So it's a bit weird given that I listened to so much music while writing Liar. I know that she would hate very single one of these, but they were essential for me to get in the right state to be able to write Micah's voice. I needed short cuts to sadness, anger and confusion. Hence the following songs proving to be just the ticket:...
Posted by Justine at 4:14, December 19th, 2009 under Liar, Writing process |
This is it the very last tip of NaNoWriMo 2009! At the end of this day you will be done! Woohoo!
Of course, you're not really done. Not even if you managed to finish a whole novel in one month. Though if you did, congrats! I've never managed that. My hat is off to you. As it is to everyone who took part this month no matter how many words you wrote or how close you got to
completion.
But what to do with your finished
zero draft? How do you turn it into a first draft? Or better yet a finished draft?
Well that, my friends, requires a great deal of rewriting. Lucky for you I have written the essential ...
Posted by Justine at 0:42, November 30th, 2009 under Writing process |
It's my second last NaNoWriMo post! Wow, that went fast. You've all been at it for 28 days now. ((Unless you haven't started today's writing.)) Which leads me to suspect that some of you may be feeling quite sore about now.
Writing, like any job that involves spending hours in front of a computer, has a high injury rate. Almost every pro writer I know has some kind of neck/back/wrist problem. Carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injury are very common.
At the end of almost every first draft deadline, when I've been writing every day for weeks and weeks on end, and my writing days have stretched out from four hours to twelve or longer, my upper back ...
Posted by Justine at 16:47, November 28th, 2009 under Writing process |
Only four more days of
NaNoWriMo to go, and I'm noticing that a lot of people are beating up on themselves. They haven't met their deadlines. They haven't got enough words. Their words aren't good enough. The muse is missing! Etc, etc.
Welcome to the wonderful world of being a writer.
At every level, writers beat up on themselves. If they're not published yet, then that's their source of grief. If they are published, then they aren't selling enough, well reviewed enough, or haven't won enough awards. If they are award-winning bestsellers, their publisher makes them tour all the time. And because they're touring all the time, they're too tired and sick to write.
Oh, the woe that it is to be ...
Posted by Justine at 13:39, November 26th, 2009 under Writing process |
Lately many white writers have been asking me about writing characters who aren't white. Quite a few are doing NaNoWriMo, so I decided I'd put my responses into the NaNo tips.
I've been asked the following questions: Why should I have non-white characters in my books? How do I write about non-white people if I've never known any? Should I write about non-white people at all?
I've already
addressed some of
these questions a
number of times. I'm not sure if any of my responses are adequate. These are complicated questions that I wrestle with myself.
And, of course, I feel very weird being put in the position of giving people permission to write. No one can do that ...
Posted by Justine at 13:58, November 24th, 2009 under State of the World, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Yesterday Scott talked about the importance of
rereading books you love to figure out how the writer made you react the way you did. He advised rereading good books. Today I'm going to recommend reading and examining bad books.
This may sound like strange advice but often you learn more from examining a broken thing than something that's in perfect working order. It's actually easier to do this than it is to figure out how a good book achieves its effects. This is because it's much harder to get sucked into the narrative of a book that's broken. Every time I reread Pride and Prejudice I have to work crazy hard to look closely at the writing and avoid getting ...
Posted by Justine at 11:32, November 22nd, 2009 under Writing process |
It's day twenty and I've seen some talk on NaNoNoWriMo blogs of muses showing up or, more often, not. I'm sure for some of you muses are a very useful metaphor for your creative process. However, sitting on your arse waiting for them to show up? Frequently not a good approach to actual writing.
"Oh noes! My muse is not here! I cannot write! Instead I will play Left 4 Dead 2 until muse shows up."
This method will leave you with kickarse zombie killing skills but will not be much chop when it comes to, you know, writing.
Now, I'm not a very spiritual or mystical person, so feel free to ignore me. But I can tell you that even my most ...
Posted by Justine at 13:25, November 20th, 2009 under Writing process |
Yesterday's post led to
Kilks suggesting that I base a NaNo tip on it, which I am now doing.
One of the biggest flaws in beginner writing is a reliance on stereotypes and cliches which produces characters who never come to life because they lack verisimilitude. The female protag faints and is afraid of spiders. The male one is brave and strong. Or vice versa. And that's all there is to them. They're thinner than paper.
What do I mean by a stereotype? Let's look at one that frequently shows up in US teen movies and books: the dumb jock.
Now am I saying that you can't write about a dumb jock? No, absolutely not. I'm saying that if you're writing a ...
Posted by Justine at 15:42, November 18th, 2009 under Writing process |
I know I wrote a whole tip telling you to ease up on yourself and
expect badness in your first draft. I encouraged you to just pound it out and leave the editing till later.
Sadly, that doesn't work for every writer. Nor does it work for every book. Although I bashed out a crappy zero draft for the majority of my books, I wrote Liar editing as I went. I don't think it would have worked to have written it any other way.
I wrote Liar scene by scene. Working on each one until it was polished and gleaming and then, and only then, moving on to the next one. The scenes in Liar are pretty short so it ...
Posted by Justine at 13:51, November 16th, 2009 under Liar, Writing process |
Yes, it's time for some more vaguely contradictory advice. So first a word on that. Here's why this tip is not contradictory. No one technique or strategy works for every writer. They don't even work for one writer all the time. There are times when the only way I can get any writing done is to cut off from all external stimuli, most especially the internet. Sometimes I can't write if there's music on. But other times I need music and I need the internet.
Sometimes my procrastination feeds my writing.
That's right, sometimes procrastination is your friend.
Yes, I know I just told you to
turn the internet off. Well, now I'm telling you to turn it back on again. Or ...
Posted by Justine at 13:30, November 14th, 2009 under Writing process |
It's day 12 and on the NaNoWriMo blogs there's much talk of word counts missed, scenes not written, and of generally falling behind. Now that is to be expected. As previously mentioned I do not think you should be freaking out about
word counts. NaNoWriMo is chance to stretch and grow. However, I can't help noticing that those same blog bemoaning lack of progress are also full of talk of excellent blogs with great NaNoWriMo advice and sundry other things discovered on these wonderous intramanets. Could it be that the one is getting in the way of the other?
Perhaps now is the time to rip the DSL from the wall, switch your cable off, hide your modem. Maybe you ...
Posted by Justine at 12:23, November 12th, 2009 under Writing process |
The event at
Books of Wonder with
Libba Bray,
Kristin Cashore,
Suzanne Collins, me and
Scott last night was astonishing. Several people said they thought there were around 200 people there. I could not possibly guess from where I was sitting, but it did indeed appear to be many.
Here's my bad fuzzy photo of the many:
It was pretty overwhelming to be on the bill with such popular writers, especially Suzanne Collins. For those who don't know, her two most recent novels, Hunger Games and Catching Fire are currently, and have been for some time, numbers one and two on The New York Times bestsellers list, selling bajillions of copies a week. The Books ...
Posted by Justine at 17:03, November 11th, 2009 under Book tour, New York City/USA, Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
