Tag Archives: writing tip

The Longest Short Story Ever

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Six months ago I started writing a short story. To me, this is a very long time for a short story. I’m accustomed to working on a novel for years, because a novel by its very nature is a long-term commitment. But with short stories, I’ve always handled them one of two ways: finish it in weeks or even days, or not at all.

This particular short story I launched into with exceptional enthusiasm, because it was the inaugural story for a new fantasy world (different from the world of the fantasy novel trilogy I’ve been working on for years).

I had the whole plot worked out, had my cast of characters, knew the ending scene. I had the rules of magic and other world-building essentials already sorted out, because this was a revamping of some fantasy stories and a world I’d created as a kid. Basically, all I had to do was type up a few thousand words. So what happened?

Two things: life, and losing my focus.

The life bit wasn’t a bad thing. There were some changes – good ones – at my jobs, some opportunities came my way for some paid writing, and other stuff. I was excited about all of these changes, but the upshot was that a few months ago my life got suddenly busier and a lot more hectic. So with all of that, plus the novels I was plugging away at and this blog, the short story got pushed to the bottom of the pile.

The main problem, though, was simply that I lost my focus. I blogged at the beginning of this year about how I was going to take my fiction writing more seriously. I’ve been doing the bare minimums (keeping up with submitting installments of my novel to my critique partners, and keeping this blog going), but that’s it. But to be successful – or even to finish something – requires more than bare minimums.

And so, I finally got my rear in gear, I refocused, and I wrote a few thousand words and finished that short story. It’s been a long, rough road – that unfinished project, all mapped out and ready to go but still not done – was starting to really weigh on my mind. There’s nothing like the stress of an unfinished project.

So what did I learn from this long road to a short story? I learned that without focus and intentionality, even the shortest bit of writing can get pushed down in priority and left unfinished. I learned that all it takes is a little discipline to keep a short little tale from becoming a six-month headache.

I learned that if I want to be a writer, then all I have to do is write.

Pinterest – the Other Book Site You Should be Using

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If you’re a fan of books – whether you’re a writer or just an avid reader – then you probably already have your favorite go-to sites to find new books, participate in discussion or critique forums, or just find writerly advice. Hopefully you leave book reviews on Amazon and GoodReads, and follow hashtags on Twitter like #amreading and #amwriting. But are you using Pinterest?

For those who don’t know, Pinterest is a digital pinboard site where you can collect and share images. People use it for everything from collecting recipes to home decorating ideas to sharing useless snarky memes. None of these are bad, and for sure it all makes Pinterest an entertaining site. But Pinterest can also be used for so much more.

Writers, editors, book reviewers, publishers, and fans can all benefit by using Pinterest in a focused, intentional way. Here are some examples:

A Pinterest Board for your Favorite Books

Why not collect all of your favorite books on Pinterest, just like you collect them on virtual shelves on GoodReads? If you pin a book cover image directly from a legitimate site like Amazon or the author’s own website, then that pin can help you and other people find a copy of that book for reading. You could even go all out and create multiple boards organized by genre or author.

A Pinterest Board for your Current Writing Project or Future Story Ideas

If you’re a writer, then you probably already like perusing the internet for pictures to inspire you. Pinterest is a gold mine for finding inspiration for any sort of project.

pinterest

A Pinterest Board of Writing Tips and Instructional Blogs

There are blogs, articles, and quotes galore about the art of writing. You probably already have some of your favorites that you read regularly. Any post or site with an image is pin-able (unless the site owner specifically requests that their content NOT be shared on Pinterest). Pinterest boards are a great way to collect and organize all of your favorite posts.

Of course there are other ways to use Pinterest to organize your ideas or promote your work. I covered just a few basic ideas here. So now, please share – how do you use Pinterest?

On Writers Conferences and Book Fairs

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Recently I went to North Carolina for a book fair. I had a wonderful time, met some great people, and came back with books, business cards, and a wealth of information.

I decided not to make this post a conference review, but rather just share some things that I’ve learned about writers’ conferences, workshops, and book fairs.

Note: I’ve never participated in a conference or event from the vendor’s side (yet) – so far I’ve only been an attendee. But since a bookish event should be, ideally, designed for the attendees, I can comment on the things that are appealing and done well, and the things that could use some work.

Bring business cards. Whether you’re an author selling books, an agent, a publisher, or just an amateur writer checking it all out for the first time, business cards are a must. You’re going to meet some people you want to stay in touch with, or an author or agent you want to follow up with later. And scribbling names and emails on random pieces of paper is just awkward. If for some reason you don’t bring business cards, at least have bookmarks to advertise your book, or flyers for your company, or something. At one event I stopped at an author’s table and she told me she hadn’t bothered to bring business cards. She had no bookmarks or anything else, either. I didn’t buy a book right then, and do you think I remembered her name long enough to go home and look her up on Amazon or GoodReads? Nope.

Don’t be embarrassed to set up a table even if you have only one book. There are plenty of prolific authors who have to bring just a selection of their stuff to an event, because they have too many titles to fit on a table. But don’t be intimidated by them if you have only one book out so far. I’ve bought just as many books from authors with full series laid out on the table as I have bought from writers selling just one title. Be friendly, have a professional-looking book (and bookmarks or business cards), and have fun.

Be on social media. And have a decent-looking website. Really, this point should be a post all to itself, but I’ll save that for later. The point is that if you’re a writer, an agent, a publisher, an editor, or an illustrator, you need to be represented online. I understand that not everyone is a social media nerd like me, or has the know-how to create a fancy website. But basic blog templates are free, as are Facebook and Twitter. At one book event, I spent some time speaking with a representative from a small publisher. He had a good sampling of books on the table, and he had business cards. However, when I went to the website I found it visually very hard to read because of the design; also, there were several broken links, and no social media links at all. I’m sure it’s a great publisher, but I will not be submitting my manuscript to a company that is still using a website design from 1998 and isn’t on Facebook. It’s not that I’m a social media snob – it’s just that I expect professionals in the writing industry to at least try to keep up with the current trends of said industry.

Another note: With all of these points, good and bad, I am not referring specifically to the event I just attended in NC. These are observations gained from my (admittedly limited) experience of attending bookish and writerly events in general. I also didn’t name any names because a) I want to be polite and protect people’s identity, and b) I’m not that great with names so I’d probably get it wrong if I linked a name to a specific point.

Anyway. Have you attended a writers’ conference or book event of any sort? Do you have any comments or observations to add to this list? Please share!

Naming Your Characters

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I’ve read a lot of blog posts about how to name your characters. I even wrote a post about it a while back, which you can read here on the Mythic Scribes website. I don’t know that there’s one right or wrong way to come up with names for characters, and there are different tips and tricks that vary depending on genre. (My post on Mythic Scribes is about inventing names for fantasy. That article probably won’t help you much if you’re writing contemporary women’s lit.)

So how do you come up with good character names? Well, here are a few suggestions that are not so much tips and tricks, but are ideas to consider when you sit down to populate your story with characters.

Consider your genre. If you’re writing science fiction or fantasy, then you might be able to get some ideas from that post I wrote for Mythic Scribes. (If you do read that post, then scroll down and read the comments – lots of good ideas there.) If you’re writing historical fiction, then do your research and choose names that fit with the time period and location. It wouldn’t do to have a character named Jessica in a story set in ancient Rome (unless, of course, you’re doing a sci-fi time-travel story).

Consider symbolism or meaning of names. This is a common thought process behind the naming of characters – at least from what I’ve read on blogs and heard from other authors. Depending on your genre and the story itself, you can go heavy-handed with the symbolism and meaning – for example, like J.K. Rowling and her name for Remus Lupin. If you know anything about mythology and/or the Latin and Greek roots of words, his name is a dead giveaway that he’s somehow related to dogs or werewolves. Symbolism in names can also be more subtle, such as naming a strong male character after your beloved grandfather, even if the character is not based on him. Some authors want a name that has a particular meaning, which may or may not figure directly in the story. Baby name books are a great resource if you’re looking for meaning or symbolism in your names.

Use humor or in-jokes with your names, if appropriate. This one really depends on the genre and the type of story you’re trying to tell. A comedy might benefit from pun-like names or names with a certain humorous meaning behind them. This may not be the best example, but in the fantasy series I’m writing, I have a character whose last name is Abernathy. This in itself is not funny (nor are the stories supposed to be funny), but I use his last name for (very occasional) humor within the tale. The books are set in Finland, and all of the main characters (with the exception of Mr. Abernathy) are Finnish. I deliberately picked a name that would be challenging for native Finnish speakers to pronounce. This is an incredibly minor point in the books, but I thought it would be fun to toss in elements of other characters occasionally mangling his name.

Scroll through the phone book or pick a Scrabble tile from the box. Did I just say phone book? I feel old now. Well, hopefully you get the idea. This is the “random selection” idea of generating names, and could work if you are totally stuck for ideas, or if you just need a quick name for a minor character and don’t need to put a lot of thought into it.

Now over to you – do you have any ideas or special techniques for naming characters in your stories?

The Nitty-Gritty of Writing: Capitalization

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Some days it seems like basic capitalization is becoming a thing of the past. With texting, auto-correct, and even intuitive typing in word processing programs, it’s easy to just not bother with a silly little thing like capitalization. I’ve been guilty of rushing through a text and not bothering to check and see if my phone automatically changed the i to I or not.

Typos and all lowercase in texts to your friends is one thing, but when it comes to actual writing (as in a blog post, story, query letter, resume, school paper, etc.) capitalization matters. I’m going to highlight just the basics here. Refer to your style manual of choice (Chicago, AP, etc.) for the finer points of capitalization for things like acronyms, honorary titles for individuals or groups, headings and subheadings in articles, and so forth.

The first word of a sentence

This should be a no-brainer. The first letter of the first word of every sentence should be capitalized, even if the word is “the,” like in this sentence.

Proper names

Proper names include:

People’s names – Joe, Sue Smith, or yours truly Grace Robinson

Place names – America, New York City, Grand Canyon

Other proper names (brands, stores, organizations, etc.) – the White House, the Blue Angels, Saks Fifth Avenue

In English, the only pronoun that gets regularly capitalized is “I.” This makes English unusual, because in most languages, the first person singular personal pronoun is no different from “he,” “they,” or “you.”

Book, movie, and song titles

Examples:

The Notebook – as in the Nicholas Sparks novel, or the movie based on his novel. If you’re writing about just a random notebook, it would not be capitalized – unless it’s the first word of the sentence, of course.

“Let it Go” – a perfectly normal phrase, but if you’re referring to the song from Frozen (see, more capitalization), then it now goes in caps.

Other Really Important Words

This is sort of a joke, and sort of not – it mostly depends on context. Unconventional capitalization can be used for humorous effect in a blog post, like this Really Important Post about Capitalization that you’re currently reading. Capitalizing ordinarily non-proper nouns is common in genre fiction like fantasy, such as the One Ring in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. “One” and “ring” are common, unimportant words, but in the context of that story, the capitalization lets the reader know that this particular Ring is anything but common.

One important thing to note, though, about capitalizing ordinary words for emphasis: it’s basically universally agreed that texting or posting on social media IN ALL CAPS is the equivalent of shouting, and should be used sparingly. And by sparingly, I mean putting ONE word in all caps for emphasis, NOT THE ENTIRE BLASTED POST. (That’s my opinion – and widely-agreed-upon internet etiquette).

So there you have it – a few small basic rules of capitalization. As I mentioned, please refer to an actual style guide if you get bogged down with capitalization details. But in the meantime, sticking to these basic rules for school papers and internet posts can help add a little professional polish to your work.