writing
When Page Totals Go Backward
Not every step goes forward. (Deep, I know.)
It’s nice to see pages adding up, especially in a first draft. A writer can’t resist doing a little math and thinking, “If I can just write 5 pages today and every day this week, I’ll have 25 by Friday. I’ll have 50 by the Friday after that. I’ll have an entire draft before I know it!”
It sounds SO appealing, but the problem is, writing doesn’t often obey math, and expecting words to appear in tidy chunks can make a girl… Continue reading
Inventing the Novel Writing Process Again
Each time I write a novel, it feels like I’ve never written one before. It’s a bewildering, nerve-wracking situation. I’m supposed to create a 300+ page manuscript that’s interesting and fun to read when I have difficulty writing one clear sentence. I’ve recently finished writing The Rule of Mirrors, so I’m working on Vault 3 now, and the only thing that truly makes sense about it so far is this feeling that I have tentacles reaching into my brain. They’re slick, slimy tentacles with little sucker feet on them,… Continue reading
Works in Progress
My first batch of line edits for The Rule of Mirrors (Vault 2) came a couple days ago, so I back-burnered my new draft of Book 3 to work on them. On my breaks, I’m writing the Q&A for the back matter of the paperback of Book 1, which takes me to thinking about where the series started. So, essentially, I’m mentally in all three books right now, and I like that.
At the same time, I’m hyper-aware that it’s summer, and the season has become inextricably intertwined with… Continue reading
Mirror Worlds
“Mirror Labyrinth” by Jeppe Hein in Brooklyn Bridge Park, May 31, 2015
I’ve been intrigued by the land in the mirror ever since I was a kid and met my friend in the glass. She was always waiting, the silent, trapped version of me on the other side. She only appeared when I came looking and never moved without me. She would look me in the eye no matter how closely I approached and never showed me the back of her head.
So when I began writing The Rule of… Continue reading
More Feels!
He was as happy as stone. (Or, how emotional writing doesn’t always work.)
When my brilliant sister Nancy O’Brien Wagner gave me feedback on a recent draft of The Rule of Mirrors, she keyed in on certain moments and wrote “More emotion!” in the margins. This is hugely helpful to me, but it does not involve an easy fix, like adding more tears or labeling that my characters are passionate, angry or relieved. Saying “She felt so happy!” only goes so far.
The challenge with writing emotional scenes is… Continue reading
One Small Tip
If you’d like to make one small change to strengthen your writing, become aware of how often you begin a sentence with “There is…” or “There are…” Almost always, you can revise the sentence to eliminate that opener, and by being more concise, convey information more efficiently. It makes for smoother, brighter reading.
Example #1: There are too many bugs in this pie.
More direct: Too many bugs swim in this pie.
Example #2: There is a small, ugly boy living on my block.
More direct: A small, ugly boy… Continue reading