While editing my novel (currently known as “New Westville”), I found this beauty of a sentence:

“Well, that works well, but we’re out of batteries,” she said, doffing through her backpack.

Did anyone else lift an eyebrow? I usually catch funny errors during my writing, but I accidently mistyped a real word I’ve never heard of. For those curious, it means to remove (an article of clothing) or to tip (a hat). If I’d say “doffing her backpack,” I could get away with it. But I don’t know how to remove through something.

Point is, don’t expect Word—or any other automatic checker—to find your errors for you. In this case, my favorite two readers glanced over this error too!

Best wishes,

-Katie

I am agonizing over a single sentence in my 50,000+ word novel.

Aftercare is so important, and I feel it’s important to stress this metaphor, but I feel like I’m going crazy. Will anyone even notice if I flub this sentence? Will it someday move a reader in a way a different sentence could not? Will it pull my piece together perfectly?

Ideally, it creates a looming ever-presence from my forest, which is almost a character itself. Right now, though, it just feels like I’m stressing for nothing.
Editing is the pits.

-Katie

Hello all!
NaNoWriMo ’11 is almost a month behind us, and I’m finally getting the nerve to open up that word document again. I’m happy to say I won again – the first time after my ’09 win – and I feel my first horror novel has some potential.

Many say that writing the novel is the hard part, but right now I disagree! Editing is harrowing, especially when I’ve spent this week devouring the first two books of the Hunger Games, and they are so wonderful they seem to be affecting my writing mojo.

At least I did a little something today — I sent in a short story titled “Lily” to the Dream Quest Writing Contest. Fingers crossed, everyone!

We’ve landed in a dark wood.

This world we’re in? We don’t belong, and the warmth of your arms makes that clearer to me.

You remind me of Heaven, of the God who loves us more than anyone,

Who gave us one another as a lantern in this wood.

You and I are kept apart, each on one side of a thicket we can hardly speak through;
Another year, another inch closer, and I think I see the outline of your face.

In the moments we can stretch, reach and hold our fingertips together
If only for that instant before the branches snag and snap against our skin,
I feel that warmth and know we’ll be alright— we’ll find our way around this wood:
And even though the beasts still snap, the dark-cloaked men point in all directions,
Together we can face it all. Together, we will make our shelter against this broken world.

 

–Originally posted on DeviantArt.

Have you ever spent time dawdling—err, I mean, browsing—Amazon’s “writing references” section? If nothing else, I’m sure you’ve perused Barnes & Noble’s shelves dedicated to the craft. One genre I’ve always found entertaining is what I call “Writer’s Block Busters.” (Yes, puns DO make me smile.)

While a good writing prompt book can be a lot of fun (I’ve read a lot of good reviews on WriteStarts by Running Press), I thought it might be nice to offer some prompts right here. Best part? Totally non-mandatory, totally free! If you like one, though, you should definitely let me know. If that’s the case, I’ll do this again some time.

 

1.

A young boy renames himself for his first day back at school. Extra points if that name is something abstract: “killer” or “runaway,” or even “apple pie.”

2.

Two kids break into a Halloween haunted house after-hours to find out if it’s really haunted.

3.

Write a scene where a man and a woman argue about their breakfast, using their food to represent what they’re really upset at each other about.

4.

A woman realizes her boyfriend just read her journal, and is on his way over to talk about it.

5.

Someone finds a dog who will do nothing but stare at them.

6.

Someone finds a jacket that does not belong to them in their closet.

7.

Three people find a key to a box they found in the attic.

 

That’s all for now! I’m going to do my best to at least write a scene for each of these.

-K

Hey everyone.
Yesterday I got together with a close friend (who is my Screnzy partner this year) to discuss our plans for the screenplay we’ll soon be writing.
We used a stack of magazines to make a collage that represents what our plot is about; we talked through our opening, named characters, and started discussing twists.
I must say: it’s such a challenge not to write anything down!
The rules of Script Frenzy state that we can’t write anything before April 1st (midnight). Many make outlines ahead of time, which as far as I know is allowed…
We had trouble figuring out just how much IS okay: is it keywords, titles, pictures? We really want to play by the rules. My writing partner (zodiac1kitty) is especially worried, as this is her first crazy-writing-event. She’s not quite sure what to expect.
What we decided was to record our conversations on her phone–since my computer is down and this one has no sound recorder–that way there isn’t any paper, no words are written, and we won’t forget all of our moments of epic genius come April.
Only 23 days until the Frenzy! If you haven’t signed up yet, hurry up and do so at scriptfrenzy.org.
The NaNoWriMo team create an amazing atmosphere, and it’s an incredible way to hone your craft–in my case, pulling completely out of my writing comfort zone. Needless to say, I’m excited!
-Katie

That word is “writerly.” As in, “I’m thinking about writerly things tonight.”
That’s true.
I’m at the end of this novel of mine, and I quite like how it’s turned out. I’m kind of stuck on this character my book has just met. This is how my character Jay talks about him when he enters the room:

A tall man walks through them, and he’s all angles with bony fingers and a sharp, beaklike nose. He has long, greasy brown hair tied up behind his neck and bright blue eyes. I scan him up and down, my stomach turning over. Despite his long-sleeved button up, detailed black tattoo designs peek out past his wrists towards the tops of his hands.
“Joan.” is all he says, but his voice is husky, which startles me a little. I guess I expected something comical, like an annoying squeaky voice, and I don’t really want there to be anything appealing about him. At the sound of her name, Joan softens visibly. I can only see her from behind, but I bet she’s giving him that eerie smile of hers.
I focus my eyes back on the man with all the edges. He’s staring at our feet, and I bet he thinks I’m wearing shoes, too: they’ve gotten pretty dirty.

Ugh, that sure is choppy. Wrote that on a car ride in the dark yesterday. (That’s actually a good place to write, as you don’t get the chance to edit at all.)

I plan to edit this novel, maybe bug some literary agents with it. (I’ve been considering teaming up with someone. We’ll see how that works out. Phew.)
Since I’m already getting ahead of myself, I’m feeling stuck between two different projects. I’d really like to write a young adult novel (young-young adult, towards the preteen crowd), but I already have something in mind that takes place a long time after this novel is written. Luckily, you don’t need to read one to enjoy the other, so I consider it a pretty realistic project to start on.
Harumph. I’m unsure. I think I’m going to go with what was planned, and push back my Y-Y-A for later.
I feel like I don’t have nearly enough time to write everything I want to–my gosh, I’m not even twenty yet. Calm down, Katie.

More later.

I decided at the last moment to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and I’m so excited with how I’m doing.
(Gloat gloat gloat)
I’ve never thought it would work for me, but since I’ve had a painfully unproductive month or two, I decided, “what the heck.”
With my slightly competitive and very stubborn nature (I mean that in the best way possible), plus the support of other writers going through the same grueling process, I participated in a 10k “sprint” tonight, and finished with two minutes to spare.
That brings me up to a good lead; if something happens and I can’t write for a day, in other words, I won’t be ruined. (Still, let’s hope for the best and that I’ll keep working hard each day.)
Is anyone else finding success in NaNoWriMo this early on? Feel free to add a comment or NaNo message me. (I have the same username due to my extreme creativity)

Updates soon, my friends. Sleep time is now.
(I have things to talk about! Life! School! The publishing world and my experiences with it!)

I’m not getting work done tonight.

I told myself I’d write from 8:30-10:00, which is when Andrew calls, but it’s just my mom and I at home, and she wants me to keep her company, and…
And it ain’t working. If I don’t have English 221 homework tomorrow, I’ll do some writing in my free hour. If I didn’t love my laptop so much, I’d bring it with me on campus, but I don’t trust the kiddos there. -.-
Either way, I’ll get work done…
Ugh. I’m going to a movie tomorrow. Why do people want to spend time with me and stuff?
Tomorrow I’ll get /some/ work done. I’ll sneak it in somewhere. I’ve gotta.
And I’ll write a paragraph tonight. Just to keep me fresh on it.

It doesn’t help that this work is completely out of my usual niche. It’s important for me to try new things and not become stagnant, but it makes the writing process a lot more intimidating.
I’m waiting for response letters from the publishing houses I contacted. It’s insane, thinking I’ll have to wait four or five more months to get even a rejection. But…well, that’s the business, I suppose.

In your opinion, do you think fiction writers should always contact agents before sending to publishers? Or, if you have a blog written about this topic, would you comment and leave me a link?

In other news, the research I’m doing for this book is hilarious. In my favorites are pages about:
-The Doomsday Vault
-How viruses work
-Haitian voodoo
-Washington D.C. weather, landmarks etc. (even though I’ve been there, xD)
-US maps and mapquest pages

Any ideas as to what the heck it’s about? XD
Some of the pages are just to learn more about the genre and basic idea. Does anyone else know about The Doomsday Vault? I had no idea. Really fascinating.

Anyone else find themselves clinging to the internet as if it were a lifejacket?

My boyfriend just went off to school. When he was here, I’d go to class, come home, hurry to finish my homework, then hang out with him. When he left, I poured myself into my work because I had no other chance.

When I’m not busy, I get less done. 

I just sent my manuscript out on Tuesday. Today, I should be getting back to work on my new piece (which I am indeed very excited about; more on that later), but I find myself letting minutes tick by while getting nothing done.
Worst of all, doing nothing puts me in a bad mood. I get really down if I’m stagnant for too long.
Anyone have good tips for focusing? I’m going to make myself something to eat and then force myself into working. It just seems tough, sometimes, with the internet, friends, television, etc. keeping my attention.