Showing posts with label ywriter. Show all posts
Back to work
I'll begin with a call to prayer. My regular readers are familiar with the Darcs, a husband and wife team who have been tireless supporters of me, my blog, and my writing for a couple of years now. Darcknyt and Darc'sFalcon have brought me many blessings, and I'll always be grateful for their friendship. I won't go into detail, but recession-related unemployment has made things hard on them. They still have a home for now. I wish there were something I could do, but of course I don't have any jobs to offer. All I can do is send a message to the universe that these people need help and trust that work will come in time. I'd appreciate your taking a moment to do the same.
~~~
After finishing the first draft of my WIP, I took a couple of days off to allow a migraine to run its course, as well as to fulfill a critique commitment. Ian's got a unique spin on the vampire novel and a good story to go along with it. His writing seems so effortless it makes me jealous, but I can't wait until he snags a publishing contract. This may be the right book at the right time to do just that.
~~~
So now that I'm feeling healthy and free, I'll start edits on my WIP. I have been using yWriter on this last push to the end, which is based on individual scenes--great for moving big chunks around during organization stages, and then for crafting the scenes themselves. I've had trouble with this program in the past because of this chunky quality, but for some reason it was just what I needed for this book.
However, now that I'm finished with the scenes I need to read the book as a whole, and for that I've imported it to MS Word, my standard and the industry standard, though that is relaxing. I'll make a single-shot pass, making notes and correcting typos, re-writing easy stuff as I go through and detailing the hard stuff for the next pass. My biggest trap is indecisiveness, so I've vowed to go with my gut on the hard decisions and not over-analyze. Another vow I've made is to look at the whole process through a fun lens, rather than fulfilling a duty. Duty crushes my creativity.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
~~~
After finishing the first draft of my WIP, I took a couple of days off to allow a migraine to run its course, as well as to fulfill a critique commitment. Ian's got a unique spin on the vampire novel and a good story to go along with it. His writing seems so effortless it makes me jealous, but I can't wait until he snags a publishing contract. This may be the right book at the right time to do just that.
~~~
So now that I'm feeling healthy and free, I'll start edits on my WIP. I have been using yWriter on this last push to the end, which is based on individual scenes--great for moving big chunks around during organization stages, and then for crafting the scenes themselves. I've had trouble with this program in the past because of this chunky quality, but for some reason it was just what I needed for this book.
However, now that I'm finished with the scenes I need to read the book as a whole, and for that I've imported it to MS Word, my standard and the industry standard, though that is relaxing. I'll make a single-shot pass, making notes and correcting typos, re-writing easy stuff as I go through and detailing the hard stuff for the next pass. My biggest trap is indecisiveness, so I've vowed to go with my gut on the hard decisions and not over-analyze. Another vow I've made is to look at the whole process through a fun lens, rather than fulfilling a duty. Duty crushes my creativity.
Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Posted by Sherri Cornelius
Wide open
Today is my husband's birthday, the big Four-One. I'll have the kids make him some pictures before he gets home from work, but otherwise we won't do anything, which is the way he likes it. I'll let him choose a football card on eBay for his present. He'd rather pick it himself, anyway. Hm, maybe I could make him his favorite dinner...
Yesterday I finished typing my scenes into yWriter, and today I'll print the list to figure out where the new material needs to go. I've never been an organizing writer and had put myself in the "seat of the pants" category, however, I think I've found the circumstance when using a system can help me. It's long since I pants-seated the original vision, and I have piles of scenes which need cohesion and a majorly-revised plot full of holes. I tried the notecard method, but it didn't work for me then. Writing the long synopsis at the request of an editor broke things loose for me, allowed me to fix the plot problems, and gave me a direction. Next time I won't wait so long before writing a long outline, and I won't turn my nose up at organizational tools. I will no longer put myself in a category, neither pantser nor outliner, because labels are so limiting! Damn it!
Another thing I need to do is read some new books. The f/sf section of my library has old stuff plus each book carries the deadly air freshener molecule, so that's out. I'm poor, so I can get just a few books off the bargain table, maybe. I thought about getting into one of those book-trading rings, but they'd smell like all the houses they were in before. I'm going to just open my mind to possibilities and see what comes up. One of the most limiting things I do to myself is to assume I know all my options, which makes me blind to others. My vision is wide open.
Yesterday I finished typing my scenes into yWriter, and today I'll print the list to figure out where the new material needs to go. I've never been an organizing writer and had put myself in the "seat of the pants" category, however, I think I've found the circumstance when using a system can help me. It's long since I pants-seated the original vision, and I have piles of scenes which need cohesion and a majorly-revised plot full of holes. I tried the notecard method, but it didn't work for me then. Writing the long synopsis at the request of an editor broke things loose for me, allowed me to fix the plot problems, and gave me a direction. Next time I won't wait so long before writing a long outline, and I won't turn my nose up at organizational tools. I will no longer put myself in a category, neither pantser nor outliner, because labels are so limiting! Damn it!
Another thing I need to do is read some new books. The f/sf section of my library has old stuff plus each book carries the deadly air freshener molecule, so that's out. I'm poor, so I can get just a few books off the bargain table, maybe. I thought about getting into one of those book-trading rings, but they'd smell like all the houses they were in before. I'm going to just open my mind to possibilities and see what comes up. One of the most limiting things I do to myself is to assume I know all my options, which makes me blind to others. My vision is wide open.
