Writing Quote Friday #1

I'm going to start a new post on Fridays. Let's just call it "Writing Quote Fridays" for lack of a better name. One of the reasons is because I love reading what other authors say about writing--even if I don't agree with it, or if it doesn't work for me, I like to know what works for others.

Without further ado, I'll start with one of my absolute favorites:

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."  ~E.L. Doctorow

Source

~I.E.

How Writing A Novel is Like Running a Half Marathon

I was going to say "marathon," which is probably even more true, but I can't speak to experience, as the farthest I've ever run is a half marathon. Therefore, this post will liken writing a novel to a half marathon instead. 

1. There comes a point where you hit your stride. Every runner has reached it. Even when a run starts off difficult, there usually comes a point where things smooth out. Your breathing stabilizes, your stride becomes fluent, and your arms swing freely. If you're listening to music, you start to get in the zone, you tap a constant rhythm on the concrete. You stop worrying about how hard this is going to be, and focus instead on the here and now, the moment, and how awesome it is that you can kick butt like this. 

The same is true of a novel. The first words on the page may be ripped from you so hard, it leaves you gasping for air. You may not feel comfortable for a large part of your writing. But almost always, there comes a moment when you feel that you've finally hit your stride. You're doing well. You've got this beast under control.  

2. Then, you hit a brick wall. In running, this happens towards the end, when your body is exhausted, and the battle to finish becomes a mental one. You start to psych yourself out. There's no way I can finish this race. 13.1 miles? What on earth was I thinking? How could I ever run that far? Who told me I could do this? They must have been crazy! I can't even take another step, let alone run the next four miles! I should have paced myself slower earlier, now I have nothing left... And on and on it goes.

I find I do the exact same thing in writing a novel. After I get over the hurdle of the first couple chapters and get into stride, I start doubting. I begin to feel the burn and the questions begin to arise. Is the pace too slow, too fast? Should I have included that incident with the llama? Oh, there's so much to do when I get to draft two. If I get to draft two. Can I even get to draft one? I can't even get to the next scene. What's going to happen next? I shouldn't have wasted all my good stuff in the beginning, now I have nowhere to go! Then I begin to wail and gnash my teeth. (Actually, I just close the laptop and walk away.)

3. There comes a point in running where your feet feel like lead weights have been attached to them. It takes every last ounce of your determination to lift your foot and put it back on the ground. I find it helps to not think about what I'm doing, but just to pull my foot off the ground, and let gravity do the rest. Take it one step at a time. After that, there's just one more. And, pretty soon, you'll be flying under the finish line. (Well, certainly not flying in my case.)

In writing, it sometimes feels like your brain is being flattened by lead weights, or your fingertips each have a lead weight attached. This makes writing a coherent sentence next to impossible. But, like in running, where you think one step ahead, in writing, think one word ahead. You can always come up with one more word.

4. You've been pumping along for 12 miles, and then you realize it: there's only 1.1 miles left. You've gotten your second wind. In less than ten minutes, you waltz under the finish line like a bad-ass. And your first thought after passing that line is, "How did I do? How fast did I run?"

When you finish your half-marathon, you have a high which makes you want to immediately look back at your race times. You want to examine the splits and see if you pushed yourself as hard as you could have (because, ultimately, you never do). And, because there's nothing you can do at that moment other than criticize your time, that's what you do.

Likewise in a novel, when you type "The End," you immediately want to turn around and edit the novel. The flaws in timing and conflict, the gaping plot holes, they're all evident the moment you type those two final words. And, if you're anything like me, you want to immediately begin at chapter one and tear it apart with a fine tooth comb. Don't. See number 5.

5. After you complete your half-marathon, you need rest. This means time away from running. In the running world, this is probably a few days (don't quote me if you're marathon training, I'm no expert). Your body absolutely has to recover from this run, especially if it's the first time you've done it.

But when you finally finish writing your novel, whether it's taken you a month of madness like in NaNoWriMo, or if you've been working on it for six months more sporadically, you need a break. Minimum of a month. Put it aside, work on something else. A novella, a short story. Something to keep you from picking at it before you're ready.

You certainly don't have to be a runner to be a writer. But the more I run, the more similarities I see between training to be a better runner and training to be a better writer. They both require discipline and a commitment to succeed. If you want it bad enough, you can do it. I may never run with an Olympian, nor run a half-marathon in one-and-a-half-hours. Likewise, I may never write an award-winning book, nor be on the bestseller list. But I can train with others who challenge me--both in running, and in writing. When you train with others who are better than you, you rise to the challenge. And that is its own reward.

~I.E. 

Row 80 Sunday Check-In (Check-In #3)

This past week I have finally been getting back into the groove of things. With that, I finally feel as though I am accomplishing things.


My goals for this round were: 

WIP #1=POS
a) Storyboard, or outline, my novel and figure out what large picture items need to be edited
b) After I finish goal a, I will edit an average of 1000 words a day on this WIP

WIP #2=StM
c) Storyboard StM and get the main points of this novel figured out for draft two

Journal
d) Write 750 words a day in my freewriting journal

Status:

a) done!!

b) in progress.

c) began, about 1/3 way through

d) missed one day, but otherwise up to date

As a goal-oriented person, it's great to see my goals being attained. With that in mind, I want to set some solid goals for this week in the hopes of minimizing distractions and maximizing productivity. 

1. Finish storyboarding StM this week and examine what needs to be done in my revisions.
2. Brainstorm for a short story I've been digging my heels in about writing.
3. Work from home at least one day this week.
4. Turn off the TV from 7-5 at least one day this week.

~I.E.

Dialogue Tags-Part II of II

Last week I talked about basic dialogue tags. This week, I want to throw in a few more complex tags
and discuss the use of narration as a tag.

For our examples, I'll be revising last week's examples to fit this week's needs. I kept the tags in red, although it could be argued that some of the red highlights are not tags at all, but narration.

Complex dialogue tags:
A complex dialogue tag would be an added action or description accompanying dialogue.

Example A:

"Hello," Ralph said, grabbing Amy by the shoulders and staring her in the eye.

Example B:

"Hello," Ralph cried and seized Amy by the shoulders to stare directly into her brown eyes.

Replacing a tag with an action:

Nowadays tags are eliminated if at all possible. All that "Ralph said" tells us is who the speaker is. Instead of using the tag, we could eliminate it completely and still convey the information that Ralph is speaking.

Example C:

"Hello." Ralph seized Amy by the shoulders to stare directly into her brown eyes.

These are far from good examples, but I hope they do what I want, and that's show you how much more powerful a tag can be when joined, or even replaced by an action.

Example C could convey a need for Amy's attention or a desire to see if she was paying attention to him, or even that Amy is a youth and needs to focus on him. But adding "Ralph said" as in Examples A or B doesn't give us any additional information.


Rule of thumb: if it doesn't add anything, remove it.

Putting it to use:

Now let's go back to the examples from last week and make it more complicated.

Example 1a:

"How are you doing today? I heard you were sick," Rose said in greeting to her co-worker.

Amy looked up in surprise and said, "Fine, thanks."

Example 1b:

"How are you doing today? I heard you were sick." Rose grimaced at the pile of shirts she and her co-worker were supposed to price today.

Amy looked up in surprise. "Fine, thanks."

Example 2:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose whispered, not wanting her boss to overhear.

Glancing in her direction, Amy murmured, "Fine, thanks."

Example 3:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose said, pulling a shirt from the pile they were supposed to be tagging.

"Oh no," Amy said as she tossed a newly priced shirt into the pile, "everything's all better now, thanks."

"Really? I thought you were still sick this morning." She jabbed her pricing gun's needle into the cloth at the neck of the shirt and nearly got her finger in the process.

"No, I was better last night. I had a big breakfast this morning and feel fine now." Amy flashed a smile.

Example 4:

--

Example 5:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose grimaced at the pile of shirts she and her co-worker were supposed to price today.

"Oh no." Amy tossed a newly priced shirt into the pile. "Everything's all better now, thanks."

"Really? I thought you were still sick this morning."

"No, I was better last night. I had a big breakfast this morning and feel fine now."


Okay, now let's talk about these examples.

Example 1a:
Both these tags work fine. There's nothing fantastic about them, they are merely nametags for the dialogue. In other words, I believe there are better ways to do things.

Example 1b:
This example removes the tags from the prior example. I like it better, personally, for it identifies the speakers only by their actions in proximity to the dialogue.

Example 3:
Establishes the speakers with one "said" each, then uses actions to progress the scene. In my opinion, this example gets a bit too heavy on the action. What is the focus, the menial job they have or the fact that Amy was sick? That I don't know.

Example 4:
n/a

Example 5:
I think I like this one best out of them all. It's clear-cut and moves the scene along, it doesn't bog us down with unnecessary tags or description. But notice that there is not one single tag in this example, rather that action is used to establish the speaker, and then we trade off dialogue with the two speakers.

Like everything in writing, the use of tags is somewhat subjective. However, if you salt and pepper your dialogue with unnecessary tags, the reader is bound to get bogged down. Be as concise as possible to establish the speaker, and try to add things to characterize them amidst their dialogue.

Remember the rule of thumb: if it doesn't add anything, remove it.

~I.E.

How do you feel about dialogue tags? Do you love them, hate them? Avoid them? Use them for every bit of dialogue?

Dialogue Tags-Part I of II

Beginning writers have a lot to learn. Even things such as dialogue tags and punctuation can be overwhelming and hold back someone from their writing. Therefore, I figure a post on the proper use of dialogue tags may be helpful for someone out there embarking on writing.

What is a dialogue tag?

A dialogue tag is a subject and verb combined to indicate the speaker of a line of dialogue. To put it more simply, it's the "he said" before or after a bit of dialogue. In the examples scattered throughout, I'm going to put all the dialogue tags in red font.

Example A:

"Hello," he said.

Example B:

He said, "Hello." 

Simple tag:

A simple tag is the simplest tag you could come up with, using the verb "to say."

Example C:

"He/She said."

Slightly more complex tags:

Anything like, "he/she interjected," or "he/she admitted," etc. Any verb which indicates speech. Note that "he/she grinned" would not be considered a dialogue tag, as someone does not "grin" words. Some other "tag" verbs: concede, yell, shout, whisper, murmur, state, lie (as in to tell a lie), add, reply, gasp, etc.

Note also that while I tend to put my examples in past tense, books that are written in present tense alter the verb tense: "he/she says," "I say," "he admits," "she concedes," etc.

Generally "said" is considered the safest tag, although dialogue tags themselves have become less desirable. (More on this next week.)

Invisible Tags:

An invisible tag is when a tag doesn't exist, but is implied by the character interaction or the exchange of conversation surrounding it. 

Example D:

"How are you today," Rose asked.

"Oh, I'm swell," Amy replied.

"Are you sure you aren't feeling sick?"

"Oh, no, I'm much better today."

In the third and fourth line, there is no tag for either speaker, but it's assumed that they trade off speaking. This assumption is made clearer by what is being said. If there is any doubt of who is saying a line, a simple tag should be added.

When do you use a dialogue tag?

The may go directly before or after a sentence of dialogue in order to identify the speaker of the sentence. When using a tag, pay attention to how I use both quotation marks and commas in the example below. Also, keep an eye out for those invisible tags. Although some examples appear very close to each other, there's a reason I chose to include each (see below for a quick explanation of each).

Example 1:

"How are you doing today? I heard you were sick," Rose said.

Amy said, "Fine, thanks."

Example 2:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose whispered.

Amy murmured, "Fine, thanks."

Example 3*:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose said.

"Oh no," Amy said, "everything's all better now, thanks."

"Really? I thought you were still sick this morning."

"No, I was better last night. I had a big breakfast this morning and feel fine now."

Example 4: 

"How are you doing today? I heard you were sick," Rose asked.

"Fine, thanks," Amy said.

Example 5*:

"I heard you were sick. How are you today?" Rose said.

"Oh no," Amy said. "Everything's all better now, thanks."

"Really? I thought you were still sick this morning."

"No, I was better last night. I had a big breakfast this morning and feel fine now."

*The difference between Examples 3 & 5 are discussed under the punctuation section below.

Each of the changes I made in these examples are subtle, made to emphasize the proper punctuation with tags, but read on for a further discussion of punctuation.

How do you punctuate dialogue? 

Source

Quotes should obviously enclose all the dialogue being spoken, and in British English, single quotes are used instead of double quotes. However, the punctuation varies depending on the placement of the tag.

Tag follows the dialogue:

The comma should go inside the closing quotation mark, to be immediately followed by the tag and a period.

Tag precedes the dialogue:

This is a touch more complicated because of capitalization. 

When a tag precedes the dialogue, there should be a comma following the tag, then a quotation mark and then a capital letter to indicate the beginning of the sentence of dialogue. 

Note that when it goes , " it is followed by a CAPITAL letter (See Example 5). This is because the first word of a sentence is capitalized, and the first word of a speaker's dialogue is likewise capitalized. The exception is if your dialogue tag interrupts the speaker's sentence (See Example 3). 

Example 3 and 5 only vary by two very small things. Did you find them? A sharp reader would pick up on them. Go look, I'll wait. Back? Good. If you'll notice in Example 5, there is a period where a comma was in Example 3, and then a capital "Everything's" in Example 5 instead of a lowercase "everything's" in Example 3. The single reason for this is that I decided to have Amy split her response into two sentences in Example 5. Instead of rushing through her response to Amy, she took her time. 

An alternate way to write each line would be:

Example 3a: "Oh no, everything's all better now, thanks," Amy said. 

Example 3b: Amy said, "Oh no, everything's all better now, thanks."

Example 5a: "Oh no. Everything's all better now, thanks," Amy said. 

Example 5b: Amy said, "Oh no. Everything's all better now, thanks."

Both are equally correct, neither one is better than the other. (Well, none of this dialogue is going to win me the Pulitzer…) 

The slight difference suggests merely that Amy took her time replying in Example 5, that's all. Punctuation is a writer's friend, and can create a fast-paced, angry denial or a lingering, relaxed conversation.

Example 1 is the most basic example, simple dialogue exchanged.

Example 2 shows how a question mark takes the place of a comma before a closing quotation mark, as well as using slightly more complex tags with different verb choices. These verbs suggest that Amy and Rose are in a location which requires quiet voices.

Example 3 gives you an example of dialogue interrupted by a tag, as well as invisible tags.

Example 4 gives you an example for dealing with commas and the verb "asked."

Example 5 offers a variation of Example 3, showing how punctuation can affect the reader's interpretation of the otherwise exact same sentence.

Wait, what about other types of tags?

There are other ways to use tags, as well as invisible tags, but I'm running out of room on this post. So I'm going to wait until next week to discuss more complex tags. Check back next Wednesday!

Row 80 Sunday Check-In (Check-In #2)

Today marks my first week of participating in Row80. 

I'm a bit late in updating, as I've been on vacation.

Last week's goals were:

"WIP #1=POS
a) Storyboard, or outline, my novel and figure out what large picture items need to be edited
b) After I finish goal a, I will edit an average of 1000 words a day on this WIP

WIP #2=StM
c) Storyboard StM and get the main points of this novel figured out for draft two

Journal
d) Write 750 words a day in my freewriting journal"

Status:

a) done!!

b) not started. 

c) not started.

d) up to date

Since I am still on vacation and crazy busy right now, that will be all until I can get back home and caught up on things!

~I.E.

Row 80 Goals (A Round of Words in 80 Days)

I recently found out about this great writing challenge. One of those, we realize you have a life goals. 

This one is called "Row80" or A Round of Words in 80 Days. There are four cycles a year, and you can join anytime. They're currently in the second round. Since I was distracted with A to Z and Camp NaNo last month, I didn't get around to officially joining until now.

Row80 is about making sustainable goals. Being in it for the long run, the marathon instead of the sprint. This is great for the goal-oriented writer, one who struggles to get motivated and stay motivated. Personally, I don't have a problem with staying motivated or not writing, but I do like to make goals and meet them. There is something immensely satisfying about knowing how many words you wrote last month, or how many pages you edited...

So my goal for this month is less quantitative than I hope others will be.

I have two works in progress that I'm trying to edit, and so I'll break down my goals accordingly:
WIP #1=POS
a) Storyboard, or outline, my novel and figure out what large picture items need to be edited
b) After I finish goal a, I will edit an average of 1000 words a day on this WIP

WIP #2=StM
c) Storyboard StM and get the main points of this novel figured out for draft two

Journal
d) Write 750 words a day in my freewriting journal

I think these are lofty goals for my first Row 80, so I'll be grateful to get that far.

Here's to a new writing challenge! 

~I.E.