Know Yourself + Writing = Efficiency?

I’ve had an article by Rachel Aaron open in my browser for almost a month now. Why? Well, I’ve been meaning to talk about it. Here’s why. She went from writing 2,000 words a day to 10,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yeah, I like to think of this article as: How to Write As If You Are Insanely Caffeinated. Or: How to Write Like You Are On Fire and Only Writing Like the Dickens Will Save Your Tushie.)

No, she didn’t just stay at her computer for longer hours and beat herself into submission. She took a good long look at how she was writing. She figured out when her most productive time of the day was, figured out beforehand where she wanted the scene to go and got herself enthusiastic about what she was about to write. As she said, “If I had scenes that were boring enough that I didn’t want to write them, then there was no way in hell anyone would want to read them. This was my novel, after all. If I didn’t love it, no one would.”

Is that smart or what?

How about you? Do you know when you are most productive? What do you do to jazz yourself up about what you are about to write?

Update on The Use of Exclamation Marks

I feel a wee bit wee-taded (retarded) admitting this… but I just figured something out. Because I may have mislead folks with my omission in my post on exclamation marks I feel the need to readddress the use of exclamation marks.

I quoted writer Elmore Leonard and said, “You are allowed no more than two or three [exclamation marks] per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.”

The first time I read this quote, I freaked. Only two or three exclamation marks per 100K!!! <faint> It wasn’t until my brain calmed down a bit (several weeks later) that I noticed the vital word in this above quote: Prose. Not dialogue. Prose. He’s saying don’t slam your prose with exclamation marks.

Your characters can still have shouting matches. They can yell out warnings. They can show surprise. IF it is in dialogue. Now of course, this doesn’t give us license to have everyone exclaiming all over the place (which one of my first stories did), but it allows us to portray real reactions within our dialogue. Whew!

How do I do when it comes to exclamation marks in narrative or prose? Well, I honestly think I come in well under the two or three per 100K. Yes! (There is no accounting for my blog posts though. I likey my exclaimies in bloggies.)

How to Use Exclamation Marks!!!!

I have a confession to make. I overuse exclamation marks. I love them. I use exclamation marks like salt, and sprinkle them in almost every scene. But alas, exclamation marks are a sign of immaturity, poor writing, and tend to distract the reader. (Or so they say.)

In an effort to solve my exclamation mark problem (the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?), I have done some research on exclamation marks. Here are a few things I’ve discovered:

* Elmore Leonard suggests: “You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.”

* In formal writing, exclamation marks are often considered out of place!

* Exclamation marks create a child-like quality!

* Exclamation marks are best used in fiction!

* Exclamation marks are best used in dialogue to show excitement, or shouting/raised voices!

* Using these marks frequently will give your work a breathless quality!

* Overusing exclamation marks reduce their meaning!

* Don’t use two or three exclamation marks in a row!!!

* Only use exclamation marks if it is absolutely necessary.

Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Later note: I figured something out. It’s exclamation marks in the narrative/prose that count. You can have more than two or three exclamation marks per 100,000 words IF it is in dialogue. Of course, of course. Why didn’t I realize that sooner? It isn’t like characters having a shouting match (and thus a needed sprinkling of exclamation marks) is a writing faux pas that will bring about the exclamation mark police.

The Problem of Bobbing Heads

Lately, I’ve come to realize that I use ‘nod’, ‘nodded’ and ‘nodding’ too often. In a way, it is lazy writing. In another way, it is a character mood-check shortcut for the reader. But either way, with 57 instances of the word in my manuscript, am I running the risk of having bobbing head characters?

I am leaning towards, yes. It is too many nods. (I have cut some out before that count, if you can believe it.) The question is, where do you need a nod, and where would a different action work better?

Men tend to nod to show they agree with what someone is saying. Women tend to nod to show they are listening and to encourage the speaker to keep talking.

In my manuscripts they nod because…well, I’ll share a few examples–some that work and some that don’t.

First ‘nod’ in my manuscript. Page 12:

“Beth.” He gave a sharp nod and glanced at the chart in his hands, even though she was sure he’d already committed its details to memory.

I like this nod as it characterizes this uptight doctor. It can stay.

Second instance. Also page 12:

After a brief silence, he asked, “Are you doing okay?”
Beth nodded numbly. What else was could she do? Fall into the perfect doctor’s arms and cry so hard, snot flew from her nostrils?

Okay, I think this one works too. Because she is distraught (fiance in a coma) and basically, doesn’t want to speak and is in shock.

Third instance. A page later:

“Oz’s father, Barney, was not as lucky as Oz.”
Beth nodded and blinked.
“He didn’t survive his injuries from being thrown from the car. The medics were able to revive him on scene, but a heart rate could not be sustained.”

Would she really nod? Probably not. I cut a whole bunch of ‘reaction’ out of here, leaving the blinkin and noddin. (Winkin was cut, in case you were wondering what happened to him.) Looking at this snippet, I think it would flow better without anything from her. Just him talking.

A random instance:

She paused to glare at Katie. “Are you trying to get my goat?”
Katie laughed and nodded. “A little.”

Does she really need to nod here? No. A laugh combined with her words gives us what we need to know–she’s copping up to teasing the lady.

Here’s an example of a nod where one woman is encouraging the other to keep speaking:

Katie leaned forward and spoke softly, “I’ve changed my mind about getting married.”
Mrs. Wilkinson nodded, her eyes bright.
“I know Will’s going to propose. And it’s all good.”

The nod can stay.

And here is one that could be switched for a better action:

“Will you do it?” Katie asked.
“Of course, I will. So tell us, was it cheesy?” She nodded towards the oak. “Gran said you had worries.”

Is she really nodding to the tree, or is she tilting her head towards the tree, or gesturing to the tree with her chin? Probably the latter. It takes more words, but creates a better picture.

How many nods do you have? Do you fall back on certain gestures? (My characters used to ‘look’ everywhere and at everyone.)

UPDATE: I went through looking for ‘nod’s and removed over 20 of them. I doubt they will be missed.

Writing Tips From Literary Consultant, Jeffrey Moores

Last Wednesday night Jeffrey Moores, former literary agent and current literary consultant, critiqued AgentQuery Connect members’ passages from their manuscripts over in the AQ chat room. He dispensed a ton of advice and tips, and 17 of those sweet writing tidbits I will share here.

1. If you can, skip using ‘first’ and ‘then’ to introduce action. It’s filler. Example: First she stood up, then she whirled around.

2. Instead of using two or three descriptor words, find one ‘good’ word that encompasses it all. His example: Instead of “sudden dead stop”, try “jerked to a stop”.

3. On adverbs (those words that end with ‘ly’): “Adverbs are usually weaker constructions that you could replace with more active verbs.” My example: He quickly ran to the store. He bolted to the store.

4. Use your verb choice to show your character. As Jeff asked, “how would grandma move across the room?” Wheel? Shuffle? Jeffrey added: “These are what I call “COMPOUND DETAILS”; those which show us an aspect of character development or theme or scene, while moving us forward at the same time.”

5. Don’t stuff a lot of details into one sentence. Do you have details you want to highlight for the reader? Focus on one per sentence and relate them to a theme or the character’s mood, etc. Justify why you are focusing on that detail. Save your details for the right moment.

6. When creating a scene, be careful how many images you throw at your reader. Allow time for them to sink in. Start with what is most pressing/important or sets the scene the best. What detail do you want to be the strongest? Give it the attention.

7. Delving into a character’s history needs to be warranted. There needs to be a reason for breaking the action in order to give some history.

8. When using words from another language or technical words that your reader may not know, add contextual clues so the reader can guess the exact meaning. Either that or use a narrator to explain what it is.

9. Hook your reader by putting the action first, then once you have them seeing a scene and wondering how your character ended up in this situation, move into telling, background, etc. to fill in the facts they need to know.

10. On other kinds of action… Actions causes reaction. Start by showing the action that propels the character and then move into the reaction. Show us what they see, then show us how they react. If something makes the main character yelp, show why they are yelping before they yelp.

11. Want to up the action? Speed things up? (Say you have a murder scene or a fight scene where you want to bring your reader to the edge of their seat and things to be happening one right after another.) Skip the ‘and’s linking those actions together. For example, instead of setting it up so this happened then that and this and this. Go for the jugular. This happened. That. This. That.

12. Early on, decide what your character’s level of smarts will be and what kind of things they will notice and in how much detail. Word choice and detail awareness create a character. For example, do they see erratic zigzags or 1 inch slices at regular intervals? Base the reaction and detail awareness on the character who is noticing the details.

13. Read aloud to hear the rhythms of you word choices, sentence lengths, etc. Anywhere you run out of breath or stumble, the reader will as well.

14. ‘Show’ when you can. Don’t tell the reader he was shocked or the mutilation was savage. Give us the details, let us draw the conclusion that this character is shocked and this is a savage mutilation.

15. Ensure your comparisons are equal. Don’t compare a cut to the bone to a papercut.

16. If you are using both second and third person point of view in your novel, break them apart so they are in different ‘scenes’.

17. You can start your novel with dialogue, just ensure that it isn’t between too many people and the scene and setting is immediately recognizable so you don’t lose your reader.

Cliff Pickover’s Writing Tips

Cliff Pickover has a bunch of great writing tips on his website. They are worth checking out. Two that I have to watch out for are introducing dialogue tags sooner and involving all the senses. For example, if you have gone more than 10 pages without stimulating the reader or characters…you might need to work on adding some in. Hello? Guilty!

I like the 10 page rule as it is something solid that can be put on the editing radar. And honestly, it isn’t hard to slip some sensory info into a scene. As well, if you have a TON of sensory info–that’s something to watch for too. No need to be overwhelming.

Mimicry Exercise Experiment #3

(This is the fourth blog post in a series on writer’s voice and style mimicry. Read the exercise explanation, exercise experiment #1 and exercise experiment #2 by following the links.)

After today’s experiment, I am left wondering, am I not experimenting with work that different enough from my own writing? I keep expecting to get hit with this ah-ha moment. While typing out the pages from other writer’s, I feel the author’s voice, I get where they are going with the characters, scene and story. I see how they are not shying away from using ‘was’, ‘had’, and ‘that’. I see how they are using ‘telling’ effectively. (Obviously, some rules are for breaking.) I see how they are giving us all those internal pieces we need to believe in the character and their actions.

Today I mimicked Jennifer Weiner’s Little Earthquakes which is in third person, past tense with several character POVs. Okay, I lied. I didn’t mimic. I typed out a full, single-spaced page (and a bit) in Word and then found I had no inkling to pick up the story on my own, imitating the style and voice. It wasn’t the story’s fault, as I love the story. The characters are great. The scene is something I can identify with. Yet, there was no desire to pick up someone else’s story and carry on with it. My muse doesn’t want to work that way. I found this in the other exercises, but managed to push through. However, today, my writing mind said “Enough!”. It didn’t simply apply the brakes, but it applied the emergency brakes too. It was not going there. So we didn’t.

Even though I didn’t mimic Jennifer Weiner, I did learn from the expert, so all was not lost. Weiner has a great way of zipping and zapping around back and forth through time and settings. The character is at home in bed, then we are transported to the doctor’s office, then to the delivery room 6 weeks prior, then back the apartment a few days before now, and again, back to the bedroom. All within a page or two as she weaves the story together, giving background, and setting up where the character is coming from psychologically. Very cool. With one simply cue, she has you in a different setting, pulling another important piece from the past, then zips you back to the present. She’s a pro!

This is the end of my mimicry experiment. While I don’t think I will mimic other writers as a way to improve my own voice–I think I have already found it–I will, from time to time, pick up a book  I admire and type out a page or two as a method for learning how another author has approached zipping around in the past, handled an intense scene, or slipping a little telling into a fast-paced scene.

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Mimicry Exercise Experiment #2

Today, I mimiced a page or two of Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess. (See these posts for more info: Mimicry Description, Mimicry Exercise #1.) This story uses first person, present tense and is British. I found this one easy to mimic. I LOVE first person, present tense. It flowed. I also love the heroine and have read this story a few times, making it easier to mimic the voice, thoughts and tone.

Really, there isn’t much to say about this one, except: I want to write all first person, present tense all the time!

I did notice there was a lot of self-talk. I think that is one of the things that really makes first person work. There has to be a lot of self-talk–a lot of inner dialogue going on which is important to the story and adds that extra layer to the  characters.

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