Tag Archives: writing

Everything else, Writing process

Gift on the Eve Before Christmas: A New Writing Paper

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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

I have a stocking stuffer for all of you. I’ve started a new weekly newspaper/newsletter called The Writing World, that collects news stories from around the web on writing, publishing, fiction, blogging, etc. Please subscribe if you like what you see. I’m still learning the software, so it may take me a few weeks to get fully up to speed.

The Writing World

NaNoWriMo, Writing process

Lessons Learned from National Novel Writing Month

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50,000 words in 24 days. It can be done! Yes, I’m bragging – just give me a moment to pull myself together. *Ahem*

I’m not going to lie, winning National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is HARD! A lot of things have had to go by the wayside (exercise, cooking, house cleaning, social life – oh who am I kidding? I never had a social life.) So I’m looking forward to poking my head out of the writing cave and rejoining the world. Well, at least partly. I’m still hoping to have a draft of Book 2 finished by the end of the year.

But I digress. The real reason for this post is that you can’t go through something like this without learning a thing or two. Here are a few unexpected things that NaNoWriMo taught me:

  1. Making writing a priority = more time for writing. During the month of November, my work days went something like this: wake up, eat, go to work (where I write, but it doesn’t count for this), write on lunch break, come home, eat, write for two hours, take a shower, sleep. Repeat. Weekends were simpler: wake up, eat, write, maybe eat again, fall asleep on keyboard. I was exhausted most of the time, but it worked. Those two hours at night usually equalled about 1,50o words and most weekends my word count was around 2,00o-4,000. Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I’m going to try to find a way to write a few nights a week – just not at the breakneck pace I’ve been going at.
  2. There are only so many hours in the day. This is the flip side of #1. When you’re spending all your time working and writing, there’s not much room for much else. In September and October, I trained for my first 5K. In the course of November, I think I’ve lost all the muscle tone I built up (literally no exercising and lots of sitting) and probably gained 10 pounds (eating out and frozen food saves time over cooking). That and my house should probably be cited by the health department (okay, not really, but I’m OCD, so it feels that way). They should call December National Catch Up on Life Month.
  3. Learning to turn off your inner editor is very liberating. I tend to be a perfectionist writer (yes, I hear your sarcastic gasps from here), so the idea of just writing and not going back and revising scared the crap out of me when I first started this. But over time, I’ve grown to love it. Using whatever word comes to mind and moving on is a great way to keep the excitement going (yours and your plot) and it frees you from obsessing over a single word, phrase, or name. That is what editing is for. And that comes after writing. “Just get the idea down and keep going” has become my new mantra. (Remind me how much I liked this approach when I get to the editing phase and wonder “what the heck was I thinking?”) But once you have a full draft MS, it’s much easier to see where you need to edit or cut, versus trying to do it blind with half the book unwritten (trust me, I’ve done it both ways).
  4. The support of a writing community makes a world of difference. I have made more friends during this month than I usually do in a year. Thankfully, most of them are local, so I’m hoping to get together with them throughout the year. The write-ins were a blast (where else do you end up quoting The Princess Bride and Spaceballs with no alcohol involved?) and I’ve never experienced anything like the intensity of a room of writers during a word war. But I’ve also met some amazing people online (thank you, Twitter!) Lizze Vance and I even got into a NaNoChallenge to see if we could finish by a certain date and time (we did!). I’m hoping all of my new online friends with be ongoing support, too. After all, the writing doesn’t end December 1.

I think that about sums up my first NaNoWriMo experience. It was wonderful and I will happily do it again if the stars align and I have a plot ready to write on next November (it very well could be how I finish book 3). To all the other NaNo-ers out there, congratulations for making it. To everyone else, if you’ve ever thought about writing, this is a fun way to try it out.

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? What was your experience like? What did you learn? If not, would you want to be part of a program like this?

Social media

Pinterest for Authors: A New Form of Creative Expression

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Before Pinterest, this is how we gathered images. Photo by mboverload. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

So, I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to Pinterest. It’s like therapy for me.

The funny this is, I never understood the point of it until I approached it from a writer’s perspective. I decided that since I can’t tell you about the plot until the books get published (querying agents right now, in case you were wondering), I can at least show you a little of what’s going on in my head through some of my Pinterest boards.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much the boards would help with my writing. Many of my pins are like someone went into my head and pulled out exactly what I pictured. So when I’m working on a particularly stubborn scene, all I have to do is go pull up a pin that reminds me of it to get re-inspired all over again.

So what boards do I have? These are the ones that are book-related:

  • Characters – I want everyone to be able to picture my characters however they like, but this is a board of my dream cast. If you want to know who I’m thinking of as I write these characters, look no further. Basically, this is an electronic version of my casting book.
  • Guinevere/Isolde book inspiration – These are images that remind me in some way of this series of books. They can be models who remind me of the characters, objects I don’t want to forget, or even places that have relevance to the book, but aren’t exactly settings. If I see an image and it makes my author’s heart flutter, it goes here.
  • Inspirations for future books – This is your sneak-peek into the other plots that are floating around in my head.
  • Settings – Exactly what it sounds like, only these could be for any of the current novels or something I’m planning in the future. If it’s a locale I want to remember, I pin it to this board.
  • Writers and bookworms unite – Admit it. We writers and readers are a strange bunch. Sometimes it’s fun to make fun of that. I also have lots of pictures of libraries and other things of interest to writers and readers.
  • Books worth reading – A collection of books I’ve liked. I haven’t spent as much time with this board as I’d like.
  • Traditional Arthurian art – Art from the masters of yore that depicts scenes from or inspired by Arthurian legend.
  • Ideal places to write – I just started this board last night. A few pins have struck me as places that would provide ample inspiration for any writer, so I’m collecting them here.

I’ve seen other authors (and fans) do page-by-page walk-throughs of their books on Pinterest, which is a really neat way to immerse yourself in the books. The possibilities are endless. If you have suggestions for other things, please let me know.

And because there’s more to my life than just writing (well, not during NaNoWriMo!) I also have boards that reflect my other interests, like travel, religion/mythology, art, tattoos, nature, castles, home design, food, jokes, and yes, even wedding stuff (I think every woman is required to have one of those boards – some sort of universal rule).

The thing that makes Pinterest fun is following others who share your passions. That way, when Pinterest shows you what others have pinned, you’ll be seeing things you like and can relate to. It’s social media with all the fun and none of the pressure. Plus, who doesn’t like to look at pretty pictures?

I’ve been toying with the idea of featuring a Pin of the Week on this blog, but I’m afraid that may violate copyright law, so I haven’t acted on it. (Some people say that using Pinterest at all is a violation of copyright law, but that’s not my area of expertise, so I have no comment.)

If you’re interested in following me, you can click the little red “P” in the upper right corner of this site or visit my Pinterest profile. If you have a profile and would like me to follow you, please leave the URL in the comments.

Do you use Pinterest? Why or why not? How have you seen it effectively used by other writers? What would you like to see on my boards that you don’t see now? Did you see any pin that makes you want to read the Guinevere books?

NaNoWriMo, Writing process

National Novel Writing Month – Who’s With Me?

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Did you know November is National Novel Writing Month? Seriously, it is. National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short) is a movement of writers in which participants aim to write 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. Some writers use this time to begin new works, some aim to write an entire novel in that time, while others use the motivation to finish works in progress. And yes, for the first time, I’m one of them.

I first heard about NaNoWriMo a few years ago and thought it was crazy. Why would you want to try to write an entire novel in a month? What kind of quality could you possibly get out of that? In some cases, it’s gotten a bad rap because of writers who think they’re done after that month, who submit to agents or self-publish without going through the rigorous editing process that turns an average novel into something truly great.

But what I didn’t realize then is that it’s more about the discipline, motivation and the support from your local writing community than it is the word count (in my opinion). I had no idea there were local events and that other writers would be there to encourage me along the way. But so far, so good. Here’s how my NaNoWriMo activities are shaping up:

  • Last Sunday, I attended my local pre-kick off party and met writers who are just starting out, as well as those who have been hammering away at novels for a long time – writers from every genre, including erotica, sci-fi, horror and fantasy.
  • Tomorrow, I’m going to a workshop on Scrivner software.
  • Starting on November 3, I’m going to structured writing events at local coffee shops every Saturday and Sunday. All I know about these is that you write for several hours straight, surrounded by your fellow novelists.
  • On November 17 comes the big “write in,” a seven hour writing marathon at a local library that I’m told is much like lock-ins in high school. You can’t leave, but with that much creativity swirling around, who’d want to?
  • In between, I’ll be writing on my own time, but I doubt I’ll get much done at night during the week. My goal is maybe 500 words per night a few times during the week. (I write all day for my job and when I get home, my brain declares a strike.)
  • In December, after it’s all over, we’re having a party to celebrate everything we’ve collectively achieved.

My goal isn’t as much about the word count (although I love the idea of winning), as it is trying my hardest. My dream is to finish the first draft of Book 2, which means about another 80,o00 words. But as I’ve been outlining my next several sections, the story is getting more and more complex, so I’ll be happy with however much I get done. I’m really looking forward to the extra motivation and having somewhere outside of home means I might actually do it, rather than deciding the laundry or dishes need to get done first. If you want to follow my progress, there’s a little counter on the right navigation that will start counting my words on November 1 and update as I include them in the NaNoWriMo system.

If you’d like to play along, please sign up. You don’t have to “win” (reach 50,000 words) to be successful. Personally, I’m proud of anyone with the guts to try.

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? If so, what are your tips for success? If not, what do you think about the idea?

Writing process

How to use Amazon as a Research Tool

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By Jonymamilou, CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A while back, someone on Twitter recommended a book to me that traces the evolution of Arthur, Guinevere and Mordred as characters. Naturally, I thought this would compliment my research nicely. The only down side was that it was selling on Amazon for $268. I don’t have that kind of money to spend on a single book, much less one I don’t know if I will like. Luckily, I remembered the interlibrary loan system from the public library and was able to get the needed information right from the book’s page on Amazon, and a few weeks later, the book is mine (at least for three weeks, then I have to return it.) That was when it hit me that Amazon is a great research tool, one I’d been using for years without realizing it.

We all know Amazon is a great place to buy books (I’ve gotten some great rare titles from their seemingly endless list), but it can also help you to:

  1. Know what else is out there – In many ways, Amazon’s catalogue is like a giant research database. A simple search can tell you what’s been written in your area of interest, and since they sell used books as well, you may come across some that are out of print or otherwise hard to find. And sometimes, finding a helpful book by an author can open you up to other things they’ve written (For example, Joan Alcock’s Food in Roman Britain led me to her Daily Life of the Pagan Celts). And because Amazon serves up books similar to the one you’re looking at, you don’t even have to try to find related items. Its search engine can also help if you’re thinking about writing a book. Who else has written on that subject? Is your book title/pen name taken? Has someone already written a book very similar to your idea? All questions that can be answered with a quick search.
  2. Make interlibrary loans easier – I love libraries. You can save a ton of money by using them instead of buying all your research, but sometimes the library just doesn’t have what you need or you exhaust their offerings quickly. This is especially the case in niche areas like mine. Enter the interlibrary loan system. I’ve only ever lived in one state, but I think all U.S. public libraries (and many college libraries) have this service. At my library, all you have to do to request a book you can’t find is go to their web site, click on the interlibrary loan form, fill it out, and they do the searching and shipping for you. But you have to have certain key information, like the ISBN number and place and date of publication. I’m sure there are other ways to find it online, but if the book is on Amazon, all that information is in one place. You just have to copy/paste into the form. If you haven’t tried an interlibrary loan, do it. You’ll be amazed what they can find and where it comes from. All you have to do is pick up the book, take good care of it and return it on time.
  3. Judge what to buy – Of course, no discussion of Amazon would be complete without talking about purchasing books. Their “look inside” feature is great if you’re questioning the usefulness of a book. User reviews are also helpful, although sometimes I question how much some of the people actually read before reviewing.

Some people may say this isn’t a fair use of the site because you’re not purchasing anything from them. It’s a valid point. But I can tell you from my own experience that having used Amazon for other things has made it a “go-to” site for me and I’m a more frequent purchaser because I’m familiar with the site and its offerings.

Note: I was not paid, or even asked, to write this blog post. This is purely my opinion and experience. I have no association to Amazon or any of its affiliates other than being a customer.

How have you used Amazon to help in your writing or in searching for books? Are there other non-traditional ways you’ve found to do research? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you.

Arthurian Legend, Blogs, Celtic society, Everything else, Writing process

Everything Old is New Again

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First of all, I’m sorry this is kind of a cop-out post. I’ve been ill and we’ve had a death in my family, so I haven’t had as much time to devote to writing or blogging in the last two weeks as I’d like. But, we have lots of new readers here at Through the Mists of Time, so instead of skipping a week, I thought I’d share some old posts you may not have seen. Please, click around, explore and comment on as many as you like! (Posts are listed oldest to newest in each category.)

I’ll get back to new content next week, I promise. Oh, and I’m working on a guest blogging policy, so if you’re interested in guest blogging (or having me guest on your blog), please let me know!

Arthurian Legend

Why Arthurian Legend?
Arthurian Legend 101
Arthurian Legend 201
Avalon Part 1: Myth and Legend
Avalon Part 2: Glastonbury
Avalon Part 3: Avalon in My Books
Guinevereian Fiction
Historical Sources of Arthurian Legend
Literary Sources of Arthurian Legend (Part 1)
Literary Sources of Arthurian Legend (Part 2)
Guest Post: Searching for King Arthur in Turkey
Arthurian Legend: Historical Fiction or Fantasy?
E is for Excalibur
N is for Names, or the Identity Crisis in Arthurian Legend
British Identity After the Withdrawl of Rome

Celtic Society

Picture it: Britain 475 A.D.
A Celtic Primer (Top 10 Fun Facts)
Class in Celtic Society
Time in the Celtic World
Outlaws in the Celtic World
Celtic Warriors
P is for Pick Your Poison: Alcohol in Post-Roman Celtic Britain
Q is for Queens in the Celtic World
U is for Unguents and Celtic Herbalism
V is for Votadini, One of the Tribes of the Gododdin

Celtic Religion

Meet the Druids
Pick a God, Any God
Accessing the Divine – Celtic Inspiration
Samhain: The Celtic New Year
Imbolc: Herald of Spring
Beltane: Celtic Fertility Festival
Lughnasa: Gathering of the Tribe
O Holy Night, Times Three
Celtic Christianity
I is for Insight: Celtic Divination
M is for Magic: How I Handle it in My Books

Writing/Writing process

Writing Process? No Thanks, I Have Characters in My Head
The Casting Couch…er Book
In Defense of Editing Guest Post: Find Your Inspiration
On Historical Fiction Writing
Love/Hate: Ramblings About Research & Editing
The Author Platform or “What Is It You Do, Again?”
F is for Fearsome Heroines
J is for Jargon in the Writing and Publishing World
R is for Resources and Recommendations
S is for Songs that Inspire
T is for Tense: Past and Present Verbs in Fiction
Z is for Zilch, Otherwise Known as Writer’s Block

Books and Authors

A Dream Come True: Meeting Alyson Noel
Five Summer Book Picks
My Top 10 Favorite Fiction Books
Book Review: King Arthur’s Children
D is for Daughter of Smoke and Bone
K is for Kushiel’s Dart
X is for Xenophon, the Original “Horse Whisperer”
Y is for Young Adult Fiction
Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Other

An Aspiring Writer’s 12 Days of Christmas
Six Blogs to Check Out in 2012
Midnight in Paris: A Movie for Writers (comments are closed due to spam)
Photos from Ireland
Trinity College Old Library Long Room – Heaven on Earth
Pendragon University, School of Arthurian Legend

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Writing process

Z is for Zilch, Otherwise Known as Writer’s Block

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Even my laptop feels the pain of writer’s block.

Some days, no matter how hard you try, you sit down at the keyboard and…nothing happens. Nada. Zilch. You got nothin’. Your muse has hung the “gone fishin'” sign on your brain and your characters have all decided to take the day off. Welcome to the world of writer’s block.

Some writers claim there’s no such thing as writer’s block. They say you can get through any rough patch by simply continuing to write, even if what you write isn’t worth reading to your dog. I don’t agree. I’ve tried this approach and found it to be a waste of time and energy. All it results in is copious tears, cursing and threats to give up writing completely (often simultaneously).

To me, as frustrating as writer’s block is, it’s a signal that our minds need a break. In addition to writing, we’ve got jobs, families, hobbies and obligations, all of which compete with our creative energy for a share of our mental processes. Sometimes the well just runs dry. That’s when it’s best to be kind and give ourselves a break. Step away from your writing for a while and allow the block to pass. If you fight it, it will just get worse.

I’m sure this has all been said before, but here are a few things that have worked for me:

  1. Do something completely mindless. In the episode of The Big Bang Theory called “The Einstein Approximation,” Sheldon goes to work as a bus boy at The Cheesecake Factory in order to help him solve a physics problem he can’t crack. You can apply the same theory. All you have to do is something you don’t consciously need to think about. So clean your house, go for a drive along a familiar route or simply meditate. Rebooting your brain can be as simple as turning it off for a while.
  2. If you can’t stand to be away from your story, re-read what you’ve written (especially the stuff you wrote a while ago), go back to your outline or talk to your characters. Sometimes thinking out loud will do the trick. Or at least try to remember what made you want to write the story in the first place.
  3. Research. It’s not just for the pre-writing stage and you never know where a spark of inspiration may come from.
  4. Read other people’s books. I’ve had the experience where a single word in someone else’s novel was the key to breaking through writer’s block. Plus, every minute you spend reading you’re learning how to be a better writer.
  5. Listen to music. I’ve found movie scores to be very inspirational, especially since they’ve already got the rise and fall of emotions, tension and other elements of storytelling built in.
  6. When all else fails, exercise, then take a shower. I’m serious. You’ll get a rush of endorphins from the physical activity and then be relaxed by the shower. I get some of my best ideas in there; I think it’s the steam. Plus, you’ll have done something positive for your body and be clean and ready to write when you get out.

Well, we’ve reached the end of the alphabet, so this is the last post in the A to Z blogging challenge. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. I have a whole new respect for the bloggers who do it all in a single month. I’ll probably do it again eventually, but for now I’m happy to return to a weekly schedule. We’ll get back on track next Thursday with…well, I’m not sure which topic will be next. You’ll just have to come back next week to find out.

What about you? Do you think writer’s block is real? How do you get past it? I’d love to hear your tips and tricks.

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Writing process

T is for Tense: Past and Present Verbs in Fiction

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I’ve been noticing more and more books being written in present tense lately. This post is really just my thoughts and questions on the subject. I’d love it to spur dialogue among my readers because I want to know what you think.

I first read a book written in present tense about two years ago. It was historical fiction and jumped back and forth between the past and the present. If that wasn’t confusing enough, the sections in present time were written in past tense and the historical parts were written in present tense. (Because that’s logical, right?) While that was very confusing, I have enjoyed several books written in present tense, such as the Hunger Games series, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and Alyson Noel’s Immortals series.

But I try as I may, I can’t get myself to like present tense writing. I’ve read that it’s supposed to convey a greater sense of immediacy and put you more fully in the center of the action. For me, it’s distracting. I find it stilted and unnatural. I actually have to make myself ignore it, as opposed to being able to read books written in past tense without thinking. Maybe it’s just my traditional schooling (I can see the nuns passing out at the very idea).

I can’t get myself to write in present tense either.  I’ve tried and it’s just not an organic thing for me. (If you don’t believe me, read my post on Samhain.) Granted, I write historical fiction, so writing in the past tense only makes sense, but you get my point.

Does anyone know where this trend came from or why it seems to be growing? I’ve read theories that blame reality TV and social media, but there’s got to be more to it than that. When did traditional past tense writing become not good enough? Do you think it’s just a fad or is this evidence of the evolution of writing? Do you have an opinion on the past vs. present verb debate? What do like better when you read? How do you write? I’d love to hear from you!

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Everything else, Writing process

R is for Resources and Recommendations

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I don’t usually post roundups of links, but I’ve been finding a lot of really interesting and informative stuff lately on the web, so I thought I’d share. To me, that’s one of the coolest things about the blogging community – you find people of like mind and, through them, resources you’d never be able to dig up on your own. So thank you to everyone who has helped me so far. I’ll try to give credit where I can remember where I got this information from. (Those who follow me on Twitter may have seen some of these links already.)

Resources

ORBIS  The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World (via Lora Geneva) – Ever wonder how long it would have taken to get from place to place in the Roman world? Or how much of a factor the time of year is? Well, look no further than this amazing system that lets you pick your departure location, destination, route, mode of transportation and time of year. I’ve found the results on par with the mathematical formula recommended by Leslie Alcock and this is so much more fun!

Creating Better Fantasy World Maps – This is for all my fantasy writing friends out there. I’ve hand drawn my own fantasy maps in the past (which is actually kind of fun, even when you are artistically challenged like me), but from the examples given, this software makes maps look so much more sophisticated. If a later version of this exists when I write a fantasy in the future, you can bet I’ll be using it.

Articles/Blog Posts

Random House Explains What Publishers Do – The PR pro in me says Random House’s PR department did a great job with this video because the writer in me actually thought, “wow, I hope I get picked up by Random House someday,” when I finished watching this. My professional issues aside, it’s an interesting look inside the publishing world, especially for those of us not under contract yet.

Story Lessons from Pixar (via Lora Geneva) – Some great tips. You never know where that perfect bit of advice may come from.

What if Grammarians Had Their Own Magazine? – This is just funny.

12 Ways to Research a Historical Novel (via Historical Fiction Daily) – Some of these may be obvious, but a reminder never hurts.

Books

Food in Roman Britain by Joan Alcock – You’d be surprised how much is known about what the Celts and Romans in Britain ate and where it came from. Amazing amount of detail in this book.

Daily Life of the Pagan Celts by Joan Alcock – How have I written 1.5 books without this resource? Seriously.

Celtic Daily Life by Victor Walkley –  I haven’t actually started this one yet. That’s what I’m going to do after I hit “publish” on this post. But it looks very promising.

And if you want an odd take on Arthurian legend that places Arthur, Avalon and whole kit and caboodle in Lothian, northwest England (now Scotland), try Land of the Gods by Philip Coppens. I can’t say I agree with his theories, but I did learn a lot about Traprian Law and Caledon Wood (two locations in my second book).

What articles, blogs, books, etc. have you found useful lately? Do you like these roundups? Would you like to see them more often?