Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Writing Links of the Week

Hurricane Isaac makes landfall.

Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall 

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class R. Jason Brunson) 

Hope everyone has had a good week. It hasn't been the best week on my end. Hurricane Isaac made its way through Louisiana and my parents' house (the house I spent most of my life in) was flooded. Luckily, they evacuated before the storm, but their house which they literally just spent two years completely remodeling from top to bottom is going to be ruined. :( And because it was only a Cat 1 storm, they didn't even bother to take things like photos and such with them. They've lived there twenty years, through Andrew, through Katrina, and never even had water on their street. Then this one comes along and wham. : (  So send prayers to Louisiana and anyone who's been affected by this storm.

All right, now on to the links for the week...

Favorite Link of the Week: The Publishing Process in GIF Form | Nathan Bransford, Author <--so funny AND true

 

On Writing/Publishing: 

 

 

On Social Media/Marketing: 

 

 

For Gits and Shiggles: 

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

 

That's all I've got for you this week. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. : )

Finding Your Novel's Theme and Your Universal Theme

Photo by Charles Clegg (CC)So there are many, many steps involved in writing a novel (I know, thank you, Captain Obvious). And one of the things you'll find in all those checklists is--what is the story's theme? It's even a step in the Save the Cat beat sheet.

Blake Snyder goes so far as to say that in a movie (novel in our case), the theme is often stated outright. It's usually in some offhanded comment in the first 5% of the movie, typically said by someone other than the main character. So something like "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", "crime doesn't pay", etc. Though, hopefully yours is said in a less cliche way.

It's what the story is going to be about, underneath the plot points. And it makes a story richer, more layered. And even if you didn't consciously put a theme in your story, there's probably one there.

Now, on a more meta level, it's also said that most writers tend to write to the same universal theme over and over again. This does NOT mean writing the same story over and over again. What I talked about above is the novel theme, this is the author theme. For some reason, we're drawn to certain types of stories and we tend to come up with ideas that speak to our universal theme.

For instance, one of the themes Stephen King uses a lot is:  "The greatest evil that people do is victimization of the weak by the strong." (Quoted from Books Worth Reading. Check out the post for King's other common themes.)

And let me tell you, I've given a lot of thought to theme and have even done the Save the Cat thing and had the theme stated plainly in the book. If you look at the last line of the prologue in MELT INTO YOU, that's the theme of the story: "Because sometimes doing the wrong thing was the only thing that felt right."

However, as much as I tried to work on novel theme, I could never really figure out my author theme. I wasn't convinced I had one. I mean, love conquers all is kind of the theme of all romance novels but that's too vague. And then the other day I was struggling with my current book and emailing with my buddy, Jamie Wesley. And she said, "Just remember your theme. Your books are all about healing and self-acceptance."

And I stared at her email and wanted to jump through the computer and hug her. All this time trying to figure out my theme, and she nailed it like it was the most obvious statement in the world. And she was absolutely, 100% right. That is what every book I've ever written is about. For those of you who have read my books, you'll see it plain as day if you think about the stories.

So why does this matter? Who cares if you can pinpoint it or not?

Well, it matters because when you're struggling with an idea, circling up with your theme can help clarify where you want to go with the story. That doesn't mean you ALWAYS have to write to that theme, but knowing what kinds of stories inspire you can give you a starting point.

And specific story theme can provide the same thing--clarity. What is this story really about? If it really is about "crime doesn't pay", you better not reward criminal behavior in the book. 

Also, don't stress if the story theme doesn't come to you immediately. Sometimes, especially for pantsers, you don't know what the story is about until you finish it. You can always go back in revisions and strengthen the theme throughout.

And if all else fails, get brilliant writer friends like I have who can bonk you over the head and tell you "Duh, your books are about THIS." : )

So what do you think of theme? Is it something you consciously try to weave into your story? Do you think you have a universal author theme? What is it?

Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Writing Links of the Week

School bus

Kidlet goes back to school next week!

 So this week has continued to be crazy and my current WIP has changed a few times over again. Let's not even talk about deadlines. But I'm not going to complain because deadlines mean I have book contracts and that is always a good thing. :)

But can I say I'm SO happy kidlet goes back to school next week. He only goes for half a day in the afternoons so I'm not going to be getting much more time than I get now with him in daycare in the mornings, but afternoon time is so much more productive for me writing wise. AND a bus will pick up kidlet instead of me having to play taxi. So yay for that.

Oh, and for those of you who remember me asking about other programs to use to organize and save links like Delicious, I think I've found one that works for me. Zootool allows me to save a link with one click of a bookmark button and I can organize them into "packs" which is similar to when Delicious still had "stacks" (the feature I was missing in the new design). So then I can just make a pack for each week and save things throughout the week for this Friday post. :)

Now, on to the links...

On Writing/Publishing:

  

On Social Media/Promotion: 

 

Other Awesome Stuff:

  • Natalie Bahm: BIG News - My agency-mate Natalie is self-pubbing her first novel and ALL proceeds are going to help a family with a very sick child. How amazing is Natalie? She's going to stop by the blog next month to talk more about it, but go check out what she's doing and spread the word.
  • Dogshaming - This was making the rounds on Twitter this week, but in case you missed it, go check it out. HILARIOUS. 

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

  

That's all I've got this week. Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! 

The Uncomfortable Pantser: When Your Method Doesn't Fit Your Personality

Photo by Dennis Crowley (CC)I've blogged a lot over the years about my pantsing ways (meaning I write by the seat of my pants and don't plan a lot ahead). And I've also admitted that I'm a pantser with plotter envy. I'm constantly reading structure and plotting books so that I can learn new methods and maybe find something that clicks with me.

And I have had some things really help. Here's my current writing method when developing a story:

1. Fill out the Save the Cat beat sheet to give me an overarching structure.

2. Filling out the inner journey stages (from Michael Hauge's method) for both my hero and heroine. (To see more about that check out Janice Hardy's and Jami Gold's posts about Hauge's workshops.)

3. I write a one page synopsis to send to my editor. This reads more like back cover copy but does include the end.

4. Then I start writing.

5. After drafting, I go back and lay the Save the Cat structure over my manuscript to make sure I'm hitting the turning points at the right percentages (or at least close) to make sure my pacing is on point.

6. Then I check to make sure my characters have made a full arc.

7. Last, I fine tune edit things using a lot of Margie Lawson Deep-Editing techniques--though I haven't had time to do the full highlighter method yet.

All right, so that seems like a pretty thorough process, right? It's gotten me through three books and two novellas (well I probably shouldn't count CRASH because I just pantsed my ass off with that one.)

But here's the thing, I kind of hate pantsing. It goes completely against my personality. I'm the girl who doesn't like surprises, who wants to know what the plan is, and who wants a method for everything. I always want to be prepared. I'm the girl who enjoys following recipes and not effing around with extra pinches of this and that. And if I go to the grocery store without a list, I'm lost and completely uninspired on what to cook. I like to plan out what I'm cooking for dinner every night, earmark those recipes, and then go to the store with a grocery list divided by sections of the store. I'm the person who actually reads the instructions (or tries to) when building IKEA furniture.

But then I have these weird quirks outside of that box--like I HATE planning vacations. I don't want to know every single thing I'm going to do or every place I'm going to eat. My husband loves that so I leave it to him. And as much as I like routine, I hardly ever cook the same thing twice. That's why I have a bazillion cookbooks and subscribe to three different cooking magazines. I want something new every night. And I don't reread books--even the ones I love--because I've already been there done that.

So I have this strange combination of plotter and panster tendencies in my life and it leaves me with some screwed up hybrid of a process.

And that wouldn't be a problem; a hybrid process can be fine. But not when it makes me anxious and on edge. Most pantsers I know are those writers that can bust out a book in a few weeks. They don't stop and edit as they go. They just freewheel and the words pour out of them. But then they know that at the end, they'll be left with a big editing and rewriting process. And they're okay with that.

Then the plotters I know are more the perfectionist type. They may edit as they go. They have a nice outline they are following and note cards stacked up on what happens next. They may take a lot longer to write a book but at the end, the edits are more minor because they've been tweaking the whole time.

Then there's me. I'm a slow writer who edits as I go AND writes by the seat of my pants. This results in a neurotic, perfectionistic author who is constantly stressed over the book not working and not knowing where to go next. It's insanity. (Can you tell I'm in the middle of drafting a book under a tight deadline?)

I have tried to be more plotter-oriented but haven't had much success with that so far. But I am not giving up. I feel like I need to learn to play on one side of the fence or the other. I either need to learn to let go of the perfectionist side of myself and just dump a first draft on the page. OR I need to pick some method and really commit to trying to plot a book. Maybe not some crazy scene by scene outline but something to fluff out the broad beat sheet I'm currently using.

My inclination is to try the plotting way again first because I've attempted to just "write without looking back" but haven't been able to do that thus far. Perfectionists die hard.

So what's your method? Does yours feel comfortable to you? Does your method match your personality or are you like me? 

Do Quirky Writing Habits Equal Greatness?

Photo by Erin Kohlenberg (CC)So this weekend I came across a post on the Wall Street Journal site (via Elizabeth Craig on Twitter) with famous writers talking about their process. And of course, I had to read it because I'm fascinated by people's writing processes. Everyone can have such different paths on the way to a finished novel. And this article definitely proved that to be true.

Go ahead and read it first, I'll wait. *drums fingers on desk* Okay, so is anyone else amazed at how many of the writers do not type their books on a computer? So many long-handers. One writer even orders stacks of those college blue books (the ones for written exams) and writes her whole novel in those. And the writing locations were so different too--people writing in bathrooms and in bed and on subways and all kinds of strange and interesting places.

Which of course got me to thinking (after I got over the fact that these writers spend years planning and writing a book--oh, how different the literary fiction world is from genre fiction), that I am completely un-quirky in my writing process.

I mean, yes, there is a constant supply of iced tea and usually a strange combination of 80s pop music, hair metal, movie scores, and modern rock playing. But other than that, I sit at my computer in the morning at a desk, write a blog post, and then get to my writing. I type on my laptop in the Scrivener program. I type until it's time to pick up my kidlet, and then I fit in writing here and there once he's back home with me.

If I need to think on the story, I take a shower or lay down. But I think that's pretty normal too.

So now I'm wondering if my lack of quirkiness is going to keep me from greatness. Clearly, having some weird method is the key to becoming legendary. 

So I'm thinking I should write everything in pig latin first. Or record everything on toilet paper with lipstick. Or write each sentence on an index card, then throw them in the air and put the book together in whatever order they fall. And I should do all of this while wearing a pirate costume and sitting in a grocery cart. Whaddya think? Instant bestseller, right? Right? :)

Of course, I'm not picking on anyone's method. I'm a big proponent of do what works for you, but I am feeling decidedly mundane at the moment.

So you tell me, what are your quirky writing habits? What's your weirdness plan to insure your instant bestseller-ness?