Noah Lukeman is in the Blog House

Noah Lukeman, literary agent and the hero of all newbie writers (Lukeman’s the author of the stellar book The First Five Pages) has started up a blog where he answers all our burning questions about writing, agents, publishing and likely a whole lot more. Space Monkeys? I’m really curious about them. And women in the Klondike in the 1800s. That sounds interesting too. Anyway, check out his Ask a Literary Agent blog and sign up for his free newsletter (left hand side of the page) and while you are at it, add him to your follow list on Twitter and heck, why not read his free ebook on How to Write A Great Query Letter as well as order The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile.

There, you can’t say you never got anything great for free (or almost free).

Enjoy!

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New Year Writing Workout #1: Adjectives and Adverbs

Happy New Year everyone. If your resolution (made in the wee hours of last night and fuelled by the optimism of Vodka) was to get fit this year, I can help you out. That is, of course, you mean exercising your writing muscle.

For the next few days, I’ll be posting some of my favourite writing exercises from 2008. I encourage you to take the time (Don’t cheat! Some of them can be really telling and helpful.) to try the exercises. There’s always something that can be improved, tweaked or strengthened. Sometimes, you only need your eyes opened.

Without further ado, here’s the first one (borrowed from Noah Lukeman):

1) Take your first page and remove every adjective and adverb, listing them separately.

2) Look at your first page without all these adjectives and adverbs. Does it read faster? Are your major ideas still being conveyed?

3) Look at your removed adjectives and adverbs lists. How many are boring, commonplace, cliche? Try and find a stronger replacement. (Get out the thesaurus!) If you have two or three clumped together, see if you can find one strong adjective/adverb that could replace the two or three. The idea is to aim for stronger imagery and a faster, cleaner read.

4) Try placing your replacements in your story. How does it read now?

This exercise really opened my eyes in terms of adjectives that I overused–I still find myself falling into overuse from time to time. In fact, I went and did a ‘find’ for words like ‘look’ in my ms and tried to find other ways to convey the same idea without ‘look’ or in some cases, remove the whole sentence, creating a better flow.

Good luck and see you tomorrow.

The First Five Pages: Setting

What impression do you want to make? Which details will you choose in your setting to make this impression? I’m paraphrasing Lukeman here, but I find these two ideas to be very helpful. And man, there are a lot of things to think about when writing a scene. One day, I am sure it will all be second nature, but until then, I guess I will have a lot of sticky notes pasted around the desk.

The idea of setting and details and which impression you want to make reminds me of getting ready for a job interview. There was this one time where I wanted a job as a librarian. So, I figured, if I want to get this job, I need to dress the part. I need to create the impression that I AM a librarian. So, I put on my most serious long brown skirt and a plain white silk blouse along with this awful brown vest. It was a very ‘librarian’. I drove there in my little car that was plastered with stickers and all painted up with flowers. I parked it down the street and walked in and got the job. I made the librarian impression that I wanted to make. I guess when they figured out who I really was, it was too late. Not to say that I was dishonest, because I wasn’t. But what I did was give them a visual impression. I created the right setting.

I guess that is why when I threatened to break someone’s legs (in jest) a good year or so later, they were shocked and surprised. That first impression held more strongly than the accurate one that I let slip out over time. So, I suppose, be careful what impression you create with your characters and settings because the first one sticks. From this chapter, I really liked the idea of the setting interacting and affecting what is going on in the story. Sometimes, as a person who is not particularly visual, I forget to clue the reader into things like climate, character appearances and the like. Therefore, when I have a thin setting, it isn’t able to interact and participate. I do think I am getting better at it though. For example, a TV ending up being the stimulus for relationship break-up. A couch becoming a physical barrier. That sort of thing.  However, in some cases, I think I could fall into some ruts. Twice, I have had a character slip on ice while wearing heels and have a guy catch her. The only time that happened in real life to me, my car caught me, not the guy. (Dang.)  

Part of me feels that there can be too many details which can detract from the story. Where is the balance? I suppose it all comes back to the whole focus chapter where everything adds up to the whole. If it doesn’t have a purpose, leave it out. If it doesn’t add to the cumulative effect you want, cut it. So where is the balance? When you get your head into your work, it can be hard to tell what is important and what isn’t after awhile. Details help solidify the overall impression and ground the reader in what is happening, but which ones? Which ones are doing the adding up to someone who is reading for the first time and doesn’t know what is going to happen? Tough stuff. I guess that’s why I’m not bored yet, there is so much to learn and it is different every day.

The First Five Pages: Focus

Full Circle

After putting together some tips together from my hero, Noah Lukeman, and allowing them to solidify in my mind, I have turned back to my writing. Again. (Page 63 of 240 with about 80 bazillion distractions ranging from more snow to computer breakdowns to treks to the snack cupboard. Sadly, not much in the way of email to keep me distracted.)

And so, I have discovered on this round of my never-ending edits that my paragraphs need help.

When it comes to nonfiction writing, I’ve got it down pat. Start with your statement, premise or fact, back it up and move on. (Basically.)

Well in fiction, I just popped the old ‘enter’ key whenever. Reckless abandon comes to mind as I look over my work. Okay, not that bad. But when the paragraphs would get long, sometimes I’d break it up before my thought was over.

So now I am going through with the focus on going full circle. I start a chapter with an idea and end a chapter echoing it (hopefully) or resolving it. But of course, with the all important hook to keep people reading on. I am also extending that idea to each chapter section, and each paragraph. And my paragraphs are getting a bit better, I think.

Plus, I am making sure that I am carrying my themes throughout my work. I got some advice from someone that isn’t fully sitting well. Yes, you have to carry the character through the story along with their quirks and characteristics, but I feel that there is a point where you have to let off for fear of insulting the reader. They don’t need to be constantly reminded on how the character frowns at everything or whatever their quirk is. That aside, it is fun trying to carry thoughts and ideas throughout the work. It is amazing where things pop up. No wonder it takes some writers so long to pump out their books. I finally understand. There are so many layers that it is impossible to add them all in on one or two sit downs.

This is the paragraph where I should be echoing the first paragraph, resolving it or coming full circle. But I’m not going to because this is a blog and I need to get back to applying the latest Lukeman tip to my never-ending round of edits before the glorious snow distracts me.