A Rewrite Checklist, CRAFT

It’s always good to have a checklist at hand when you are ready to rewrite your story. Below are a number of questions you can ask yourself.

As you learn your weaknesses as a writer, this list can be changed to include questions that focus on your problem areas.

This list is also a good start for critique partners.

THE FIRST CHAPTER
Do I have a hook in the first few, or better yet, the first page?
Have I shown the main character’s goal, short-term, or better yet, for the whole novel?

EACH CHAPTER
Does this chapter advance the story?
Tell more about the characters?
Give plot information?
Does it work with the chapter before it?

PLOT
Do the characters and plot work well together, or is the plot
just pasted on?
Does it make sense?
Does one thing lead to another?
Has the story started at the right place?
Does the action escalate?
Are more plot questions asked before a plot question is resolved?
Does the plot fit genre boundaries?

CHARACTERS
Does each character sound different? Do they have
a voice of their own?
Are the characters doing what they as characters and
personalities should be doing, or are they being
moved around for my convenience?
Will the reader understand why they are doing certain things?
Does each major character have a strength and a weakness
which will be affected by the plot?
In the romantic relationship, is their emotional conflict strong enough
for the length of the work? Will it take more than one long
talk to resolve their conflict? Does their romantic relationship
work with the action plot?
In the action plot, is the conflict between the hero and his opponent
strong enough? Is the opponent strong enough to really push
the hero to his limits?


POINT OF VIEW
Is the proper point of view maintained in each scene?
Would a scene work better from another character's viewpoint?
Is there only one viewpoint character in each scene?

INTERIOR MONOLOGUES
Does this interior monologue slow the scene too much?
Could this information or emotion be expressed in dialogue or action?
Am I telling too much?

SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Do the sentences vary in length?
Does the language fit the actions?
Long sentences for leisurely, more introspective moments?
Short, terse sentences and words for action scenes?

LANGUAGE
Am I intruding, or am I invisible so the story can tell itself?
Does cause and effect happen correctly?
Am I showing rather than telling?


WORLDBUILDING
Is the worldbuilding well thought out?
Is it logical?
Did I break my own rules?
If a myth or fantasy element is changed
from common knowledge, is it a logical or
understandable change? Is it explained?
(a vampire who can survive daylight, for example)

~*~

WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

Links of Interest

My apologies for the lack of an article on Monday. I’m juggling so many metaphorical balls at the moment that many of them seem to be landing on my nose.

Most in the publishing community seem to be having the same problem. Link content is very thin this week, once again.

MARKET NEWS: Anne Sowards of Penguin is looking for steampunk of the sf version, not the romance version. This the first of the information. She gives more details later.

http://twitter.com/AnneSowards/status/2210092847

DIALOGUE: Moving the story forward with dialogue.

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2009/06/moving-story-with-dialogue.html

CRAFT: Keeping a series fresh

http://susanalbert.typepad.com/lifescapes/2009/06/keeping-a-series-fresh.html

WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

Win a Free Book

I'm a guest at the Paranormality blog today where I'm discussing reincarnation. Stop by and leave a comment, and you can win a free copy of my TIME AFTER TIME.

http://paranormalityuniverse.blogspot.com/2009/06/guest-blogger-marilyn-byerly.html#comments

Links of Interest

WRITING ARTICLES: Agent Nathan Bransford posted a handy database of his articles on various writing and professional topics.

http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/06/writing-advice-database.html

CRAFT: Where to find good plot generating ideas.

http://www.genreality.net/headline-storks-and-idea-fairies

QUERIES: How to write the biography paragraph in your query.

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/03/autobiographical-portion-of-our-program.html



WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

Reaction Versus Goal

When I started plotting my romantic suspense novel, GUARDIAN ANGEL, I decided that my plot line would be the following--

(Back story) High-powered defense attorney Lauton O’Brien hires Gard Gardner to protect his daughter Desta if one of the organized crime lords or killers he defends decides to go after him or his family.

(Book plot) Lauton realizes one of his clients is out to kill him. He sends Desta and information about who is out to kill him to Gard, and he disappears. Desta comes by boat to Gard’s lake home. The boat blows up with the information, but Gard saves Desta.

Desta and Gard go on the run with hired killers hot on their trail.

At first glance, the plot sounded great. Lots of action, adrenaline, scary bad guys, and a perfect situation for two people very suited to each other to find love and a happily-ever-after.

Then I realized the plot had a fatal flaw. The two main characters spend the whole novel reacting to what others are doing to them. Reaction is passive, and passive creates less than stellar main characters and a much weaker book.

I needed to give the characters a goal which is active.

I wanted to keep the hired killers hot on their trail, but I decided that Gard and Desta weren’t running away, they were working toward their goal -- following clues to find Lauton so they can figure out who is trying to kill them then stopping that person so they can have a life together.

When you are creating your main plot, you also need to be sure that your main character or characters have an active goal instead of being swept along by circumstances or by someone’s actions against them.

Make them heroes, not victims.

MORE ON THE WRITING OF GUARDIAN ANGEL

Coincidentally, the blog “On the Wings of Murder” is doing a summer rerun of my articles on how I created GUARDIAN ANGEL. If you’d like to check them out, go here:
http://murderx5.blogspot.com/2009/06/romantic-suspense-author-marilynn.html


WRITING WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

LInks of Interest

MARKETS: Agent Kristin Nelson blogs on her talk with a children’s book editor and explains what a “Karaoke young adult novel” is and why editors don’t want to see them.

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2009/06/sign-of-times.html

QUERIES: On the Wendy Sherman Associates blog, Michelle Bower talks about the top ten query mistakes.

http://www.wsherman.com/blog/2009/06/top-ten-querying-mistakes.html

PUBLISHING TERMS: Agent Jessica Faust’s revised and expanded publishing terms dictionary.

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/06/publishing-dictionary-expanded.html

MARKETS: What editors AREN’T looking for.

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-they-dont-want.html

CRAFT: Agent Nathan Bransford gives a great checklist to use while revising a novel.

http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/06/revision-checklist.html

MARKETS: Agent Caren Johnson talks about what she and editors are looking for.

http://www.johnsonliterary.com/blog/2009/6/1/summing-up-books-after-bea.html

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Author Joe Nassise explains advances and royalties.

http://www.genreality.net/publishing-economics-101

WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

So You Want to Be a Writer

According to agents and editors, half the civilized world has decided that writing and selling a novel is the perfect way to earn extra money or make a fortune during these poor economic times.

To save you time and money, I thought I’d reprint this quiz so you can decide if publishing is the route you want to take.

Be brutally honest. The only person you will be cheating is yourself. Choose TRUE if the statement describes you or what you believe, FALSE if it does not.


1. I don't need to know grammar and spelling. That's the job of the editor. My job is to tell the story.


2. Most authors make lots of money. That's why I want to write.


3. I want things NOW. I'm just not a patient person.


4. Friends or family want to watch a movie you really want to see, but you haven't written your quota for the day. You stay at the computer and write.


5. If I don't write every day, I get grumpy or edgy.


6. There's one secret to writing a publishable story, and when I learn what it is, I'll succeed.


7. Criticism really hurts me. If someone criticizes my work, I feel like a failure.


8. If someone criticizes my work, I will change it immediately.


9. I love to read a certain kind of story, and that's what I want to write.


10. It's easy to write and sell a novel. All I will have to do is sit down and write it, then I will sell it.


BONUS POINTS QUESTION: I dream of stories to tell, or characters demand their stories be told, or I envision whole scenes, and I want to find out what happens next.



ANSWERS

1. FALSE Editors are busy people, and they don't have the time to correct simple mistakes. Simple mistakes usually indicate a poor writer, as well, and usually brings a fast rejection. WORTH 10 POINTS

2. FALSE Most authors are very poorly paid, expenses are high, and the time required is intense. The average writer can't support herself or her family on several books a year from a major publisher with good distribution. WORTH 10 POINTS

3. FALSE Publishing is an excruciatingly slow process. First you write the book, then you wait for months as you send out queries, more months for them to look at a portion of the manuscript, more months to look at the complete manuscript. And if they want to publish it, it will take a year or more to see print. WORTH 10 POINTS

4. TRUE You have to create writing time and that means you have to give up other things. You have to want to write, or you'll never succeed. WORTH 10 POINTS

5. TRUE Writing is an adrenaline addiction. WORTH 10 POINTS

6. FALSE There is no one secret to creating a publishable novel. There are, however, a few things you need to do. The first is sticking your rear in a chair in front of the computer with some consistency and writing. WORTH 10 POINTS

7. FALSE A tough skin must be standard equipment if you want to be a novelist. Every step along the way will be filled with criticism and rejection. The trick is to realize that they are talking about your work, NOT you. WORTH 10 POINTS

8. FALSE Writing isn't a project by committee. You know your work best so you must decide if a suggestion has value or not. The trick is determining what changes are part of learning craft and what changes force your voice or story in the wrong direction. WORTH 10 POINTS

9. TRUE You have to enjoy and read the types of stories you write. This gives you a good basis for knowing what works and what readers want.

Nothing is more obvious to a reader or an editor than a writer who doesn't read in her field. This is especially true in romance. A reader can spot someone who is writing for the money really fast. WORTH 10 POINTS

10. FALSE Writing is a craft that must be learned. You are as likely to have the natural skills to be a publishable writer as an amateur basketball player would have the skill to play professional NBA basketball.

The first novel rarely sells. Most published writers write several before they sell. Some can write up to a dozen novels before selling. WORTH 10 POINTS


Bonus Points Question: TRUE If this doesn't happen to you, you really aren't meant to be a fiction writer. All the other things above can be learned, but this can't. WORTH 100 POINTS




SCORES
0 to 99 A writing career isn't for you.
100-145 If you're willing to change and work hard, you can become a professional writer
145-200 Congratulations. You are completely insane and the perfect candidate for being a professional writer.

Links of Interest

AGENTS: Agent Rachelle Gardner on the questions you should ask the agent before seeking representation.

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/05/questions-to-ask-agent.html

BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING: Editor Moonrat explains royalties, advances, and other important money terms an author needs to know.

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/05/and-you-thought-royalty-involved-crown.html

EDITOR: Harlequin TEEN Senior Editor Natashya Wilson is interviewed.

http://www.ninc.com/blog/index.php/archives/meet-senior-editor-natashya-wilson

POINT OF VIEW, CRAFT: Alan Rinzler does an excellent job of explaining the different types of point of view as well as some of the problems authors face with various viewpoints.

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/05/26/ask-the-editor-do-publishers-have-rules-about-pov/

WRITING A SERIES: Carrie Vaughn talks about how to create the structure for a long running series.

http://www.genreality.net/writing-a-series


WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm

Marilyn Monroe and Genre Writing, CRAFT

After Marilyn Monroe was dressed for going out and finished with her makeup, she'd study herself in a full length mirror, then turn her back and glance back at herself.  Whatever element of her makeup jumped out at her, she'd make less noticeable.  She'd do this until she had a complete look.

I've always thought this story is an excellent metaphor for writing genre fiction.  Anything like overwriting, fancy words, and moments of being too clever need to be toned down.

That doesn't mean that a viewpoint character can't be clever or use an occasional big word if it fits his personality, but it should be the viewpoint character, not the author.

During the rewriting process, be sure to look for things that stand out too much and remove them so the story is what is important, not your writing.

SCHEDULE NOTICE: Thanks to everyone who has sent notes and prayers. Right now, my ruptured disc is doing much better, and I’m on the way to recovery if I don’t do something stupid and delay my progress.

This week, my blog will return to its Monday writing article and Wednesday links blog schedule, and I hope to continue that schedule.

WORKSHOPS:

I'm teaching two writing workshops in July.

“Keeping the Reader Reading the First Chapter”

Drawing a reader into the first chapter of your novel is more than an exciting beginning, more than a “cute meet,” more than a sexy hero and a feisty heroine. Step by step, I'll show you the craft needed to draw the reader into your novel and make her eager to keep reading.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/classes.html


“Magic, Monsters and Amour: Creating a Believable Paranormal World”

Are vampires, fairies, and space aliens real? If you create the right background for your novel, they will be to your reader.

Marilynn Byerly, lauded by reviewers for "building a world that combines both integrity and depth in an entertaining way," shows you how to develop a fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal world from scratch...how to invent creatures to populate it...and how to make your novel utterly believable. She'll teach you the ins and outs of research, fresh ways to use creatures like vampires, and the means to avoid various traps many authors have fallen into.

To learn more and register, go here:
http://www.writeruniv.com/Registration.htm