The A-Z Challenge Fast Approaches: An overview of the topics I will cover



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The A-Z Challenge commences on April 1st. This is my first year doing this challenge so I'm not really sure what to expect, but I wanted to participate anyway. Not only will it give me some accountability to write on this blog, but I hope to discover other new blogs.

Seeing that this blog is devoted to the writing and editing process, this will be the primary focus of my A-Z blog topics. Here is an overview of what to expect:

A - Analyzing the First Draft
B - Back Story
C - Characterization
D - Description
E - Exposition
F - Flashbacks
G - Grammar
H - "Holy Crap! This writing thing is too hard!"
I - Ideas
J - Journals
K - Knockout (in terms of a great manuscript)
L - Lead characters
M - Metaphors vs Similes
N - Never overlook your Middles
O - Outlining
P - Point of View
Q - Quest of the Character
R - Revision Checklist
S - Semicolon
T - Tone
U - Utilizing books to improve your writing
V - Voice
W - Writers' groups
X - X-Change e-magazine
Y - Your self-confidence as a writer
Z - Zoloft: Depression and Writing

Hope you'll visit my blog to read about these topics in the month of April. Good luck to everyone taking the challenge!

 . . . "and may the odds be ever in your favor." (-The Hunger Games-)



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Your Characters: Are They Engaging Enough?

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 I have finally finished reading the entire first draft of my manuscript. Hooray . . . I think? There's only one problem. I'm not bonding with my characters in the way I thought I would (they sounded so good in my head)!

When you have read through some of your work have you ever found a disconnect between the wonderful character you envision in your head and what is actually written on the page?

After reading my first draft I'm actually annoyed with some of my characters, particularly my lead character.  I don't know what it is about her. Perhaps she's too naive, perhaps her thoughts don't flow logically enough, or perhaps she's just a downright bimbo, but she's certainly not someone I as the reader would want to follow throughout the span of an entire novel. I know this character can be more . . . much more.

So how do you even begin to make your characters jump off of the page? Consider some of these ideas:

1. Does my Lead character have likeable qualities?
2. Is my Lead someone a reader can relate to?
3. Is my villain the stereotypical 'bad guy' or do they possess some sympathetic qualities and/or good points?
4. Is the thought progression of my characters logical throughout my novel (or piece of work)?
5. What are my characters' (particularly my lead character's) personal conflicts?

Are there any other suggestions you can provide to deepen characters? All comments are welcome!

Exercise: Take a moment to look at the bad guy(s) in your piece of writing. Can you add a good quality to him/her to make them more believeable?

The First Read-Through of Your Masterpiece



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 So, you've finished the first draft of your masterpiece. Congratulations! Now what do you do?

Do you get down to editing right away? Correct grammar or maybe rewrite sentences to make them sound even more beautiful?

According to author, James Scott Bell, the first thing you should do after completing a first draft is take a nice long break from your project (a week or two). You want to remove yourself from your work so when you do go back to it you will have a more objective eye.

So ... a week or two goes by. Now do you whip out your red marker (purple in my case) and edit the life out of that manuscript? No! You read the thing from cover-to-cover even if it is cringe-worthy to do so.

Essentially, what you want to do is get an overview of your world, read the book the way your reader would do so, and not change anything. Bell advises that you may want to take notes on a separate piece of paper but that's about it at this stage.

Perhap you have your own special method of editing. There is no right or wrong way to edit, but now that I am reading the first draft of my novel without changing things, I find I have a much better sense of my world (i.e. where the pace is off, where the tone doesn't sound right, and dialogue that is hokey). I even printed the manuscript up like a book complete with spiral binding.

Now every chance I get, I sneak away from the kids and read a chapter or two. It's certainly not a masterpiece ... yet ...but I am more confident in the editing journey now because I have a better sense of the entire project as a whole. Give it a try!

Exercise: Pick up something you've written (i.e. short story, chapter, article). Read it from start to finish while resisting the urge of the inner judge to correct anything. After you've read it, reflect on your work as a reader might. What do you think your reader would think right now about your piece?

*Check back every Wednesday for a new post on editing and an exercise*

I love to read comments. Please leave yours :)

Second Writers' Campaign Challenge: Flash Fiction

Here is my entry for Rachel Harrie's Second Campaign Challenge:



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 Nandini’s Treasure

We dig in the trash, the filthy trash, my brother, sister and I. Most days we find ourselves here, scrounging for treasures: scraps of metal, worn tires, anything that may be of value we can sell.

No matter how many treasures we find it will not make Mother better.

On this day I find a surprising treasure. A ring.

Mandeep snatches it from me. “Nandini! We are rich!”

I know I should be happy but all I can think about is our mother lying on her side, a mat of woven grass beneath her. Her lips are cracked, her eyes devoid of awareness. Where has she gone, the woman with the bright eyes who used to fill our home with laughter? She cannot even drink the water we dribble into her mouth. My father pretends as if she is sleeping ... you cannot fool a child who has grown up on the streets of Calcutta.

As my brother turns the ring around in his fingers I realize that Mother deserves more than to die in an inferno of a hut, flies perched on her sweating face.

I snatch back the ring. “It is my burial gift for Mother.”

X-Change: A new e-Magazine for writers who want feedback from other writers

As an insecure writer, I'm always looking for objective eyes to read my work and provide me with contructive feedback. It's especially helpful when my readers are other writers who actually know what they're talking about in terms of characterization, plot, conflict, pace, tone (etc) of a piece of writing.

It can be difficult to look at our work objectively. I know it's difficult for me! Either I fall in love with something I wrote that doesn't quite work for the piece, or else I'm way too hard on myself and think I need to change everything because the writing is 'not good enough.'

In terms of contructive feedback, I must admit that I am blessed to have a small writers' critique group. We've been meeting for over 5 year. Our personalities and level of commitment to our writing just seem to click. Believe me, it is not necessarily easy to find a good writing group, and even if you do have a good critique group, sometimes a new pair of eyes reading your work can give you fresh insights.

That is why I'm trying to create a monthly e-Magazine called, X-Change, where subscribers are guaranteed publication in the online magazine so that other subscribers who are writers can provide their constructive feedback in a forum-type atmosphere.

During March and April, I will be accepting short stories and novel excerpts to compile in a sample edition of X-Change. Short stories should be a maximum of 2,500 words, can be fiction or non-fiction, literary or genre of any type.

After the stories have been collected, contributors will receive the free sample edition with their published work and peer feedback. Then, if you like what you see you can continue to submit your work for feedback for a marginal subscription fee.

Please contact me at siobhan.minty@gmail.com if you want to submit something for the sample edition. Also, feel free to pass on the word to other writers who may be interested in getting their work featured in the e-Magazine.

Looking forward to reading your work.

Siobhan