carladoria.lasultimasfamilias.com

Tag: authors

Editing/Revision is done! I’m back and have learned very good lessons!

Well, it´s been more than a couple of weeks since I haven´t written a post, and I was really looking forward to do it. Do you remember I was stuck trying to finish the editing of my book? Well, these weeks have been plain hard work, not much sleep, zero weekends, zero days off, until yesterday I finished the editing/revision process.

I left many other activities (like writing on this blog) pending until I could totally finish with the editing.
So now the book is with my beta readers, and I´m going to take the opportunity to get up to speed with the blog and many other activities I left behind – social ones specially and house chores! I don´t have an excuse for them anymore 🙁
I´ve learned many wonderful lessons in this process of writing my first novel that I would like to share it with you:
1. It´s not easy at all! But possible, and that should be enough encouragement
2. The only way to improve your writing is by writing.

3. I was born to be planner in writing. I got so confused with my plot that when I started my revisions I only found inconsistencies and parts of the plot that I absolutely forgot or left hanging lose. I think that for the next time, I´d rather plan the plot beforehand.
4. Characters must live in your head, and thus you must really make an effort to make them believable. For my next time I intend to plan them ahead (for others it may work to let them flourish while writing but not for me) Believe me I tried to be the spontaneous writer, but I´ve realized I belong to the ones who plan.

I´m excited for all these lessons and I can´t wait to start my next project. I have the feeling that next time it will be easier. And during all these months (9 months) I´ve managed to keep a little notebook with dozens of ideas for new novels, so it seems I´ll be quite busy for a time.
I don´t know if this book I´ve finished, which until now, remains with the name of “They´re watching us” will ever be published. But even if it never gets published, I think the most important reward here is the learning process and the confidence I acquired is priceless, and I´m feel really happy and optimistic about that.

I´ll try to keep you with updates of this book and what happens to it (if anybody wants to join my beta readers, let me know)

In the meanwhile, I´m so happy to be back!

May 11, 2015
Writing fan fiction? cheer up!

I have a feeling that fan fiction writing will never be taken seriously. I have a confession to make, I used to write fan fiction some time ago. And even though, I’m not looking forward to pursue that path (that doesn’t mean that I won’t do it again), I will always be very fond of it.

How did I start writing fan fiction?

I’m a big nerd (proud to admit it 🙂 ) and the type of geek girl who is always into movies and series fandom. So many years ago, I discovered the world of fan fiction; where fans could read stories of their favorite movie/TV characters in other environments, situations, episode endings, etc. In few words, what fans didn’t get to see on the screen, or what they thought could had happened, was written into many types of fan fiction stories; some of them really imaginative, twisted, and of course with all types of adult censorships.

Image source: ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com

So when I discovered this world, I got into it very deeply. I would first read dozens of them per day everywhere all the time. I got obsessed with it. But there were few stories that I actually liked. It was as if I was looking for the right story; the one that explained how exactly I thought TV character X did Y in episode Z. Rarely seldom, I found satisfying stories. Let’s accept it, every mind is different. Some fans were too much into certain aspects that I didn’t consider important, and others were just, let’s just say weird…

So how did I got into writing them? Well, since I couldn’t find the stories that actually gave me a feeling of “closure”, (more…)

April 13, 2015
Energy level while editing your work
Editing can exhaust you. I’m still on the editing stage of my writing and I found it hard, really hard.

I find myself wishing I could only write, write, and write as many stories as possible… and have somebody else do all the editing stuff. Of course, this poor being, the “editing person” wouldn’t understand a sh**t of my writing since my first drafts tend to be terrible.

Editing is taking all my energies. Why? (Please consider this is my first time editing my work, so maybe next time the process will change a lot, a.k.a. I intend to write much better first drafts) So why do I struggle so much with it? These are the main focus points of my editing:
- In my editing, I delve into characters as much as possible
- I try to make pacing well…. The right pacing
In delving into my characters…

As Stephen King says, we should write with the door closed and edit with the door opened. Well, since I wrote with the door closed, I managed to convince myself to edit with the door opened. This situation has taken me to uncomfortable situations described below.

I find myself doing these weird actions:

ACTION speaking the dialogs out loud to spot my tone voice, the accuracy of words (meaning if they really sound as “dialog” and not as boring description), and the feeling of each phrase in general.

RESPONSE Some scared people circulating in my house watching me speak in a foreign language while whining, screaming, shouting (or doing whatever my character is doing)

ACTION trying to feel inside my character, be my character, step into his shoes, mind, whatever there is to step into.

RESPONSE Again some disturbed people in my house watching me making faces to a mirror as I try to look sad, happy, etc.

But besides the fact that people in my house are already looking for a psychiatric institution for me, what is the problem with delving into characters?

I get exhausted. After only a couple of pages, sometimes only one or two… I feel all my energy lost, making it very difficult to make progress in my writing. (I have set up a goal of at least 10 pages per day)

And what about the right pacing?

This point has got me erasing tons of paragraphs, adding tons of new ones, and probably erasing them the next day again. I feel I still need to find a “technique” in this.

In some paragraphs, action scenes and characters would move too fast without giving too much thought to feelings, etc., for example, “the man grabbed the knife, stabbed three times and run….”

But in other scenes, I will find myself describing every lash of anger, every tensed muscle of a character’s body.

The result, a weird pacing….

I’m trying to find a balance here. I found that it actually depends on my mood… and how long I’ve been editing that day. In other words, I start with energy at its peak, writing strong character-driven scenes, and after an hour or so, I just want to narrate the scenes as fast as possible.

So, the idea of this post is to get as much feedback as possible. Many of you have already been through this or at least have more experience than me.

What do you do to Not get exhausted so fast when you’re feeling too much inside a character’s head?

How do you deal with pacing? Is it common to start with full energy and then just get bored? Would you recommend me to shorten the amount of pages I had set up as a goal for editing per day?
March 31, 2015
Finally understanding Twitter – a short post on connecting with quality followers
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about twitter: Struggling with a place where people don’t use Twitter. In this post, I talked about how I had decided to start using Twitter as a way to build up my Author platform and how I was struggling with it. I was using the guide: Build your Author Platform: The New Rules: A Literary Agent’s guide to growing your audience in 14 steps, which I completely recommend. The book suggested that I start following friends and coaxing them into following me. But being in a country where Twitter is actually not popular, didn’t help much.

I must confess I considered buying Twitter followers. But I was scared of two issues:
- I would pay for a scam
- I would buy fake followers that would disappear later (which I heard happens a lot, one day you got 10000 followers and a couple of days later you don’t have them)
In the end, I desisted from the buying idea, and I’m proud to say that I’m about very close to get 700 REAL followers with just hard work.

Image source: www.seoclerk.com

Why am I so proud of this followers?

Because I know they are:
- Nice people who tweet nice things
- Active twitter users – not just accounts that were opened once and then their owners just forgot about them
I’ve managed to engage with many of them. I know most of them are bookworms like me or are struggling writers as me. So when I review my Home feed, I always get very interesting tweets. And I know that when I tweet, I get interesting replies or retweets.

Of course, Twitter is not only about getting followers. Mostly, in order to get followers, you also have to follow. That’s why I’m very careful who I choose to follow. I really want to get good decent Twitter users to interact with. I don’t want to be guided by just numbers. I want to get quality followers.

Image source: www.steamfeed.com

Why am I so interested in the quality followers?

I’m into social networking because: I truly believe you can network and build contacts than later can turn into good advisors, supporters, and even friends.

Through this blog, for example, I’ve managed to get in contact with many nice bloggers. I have managed to find people who have the same struggles as me and who are also looking for support and encouragement.

So if anybody of you is highly worried about getting numbers, just try to forget that side, and concentrate on the quality of connections you get. You’ll see how those numbers will just grow little by little.

And you, do you ever question yourself how to grow your numbers in your platform? Do you even care about this? Feel free to post your opinions.

P.S. Just in case, my twitter handle is: @carlisdm, leave yours to connect!
March 17, 2015
How to get your hand not to agree with you

My whole life, or since I can remember, I’ve been invaded by Ganglion cysts in my wrists. Those are small liquid balls that appear in your wrists for no apparent reason but to disturb your life. They usually come and go, but some of them like to stick around causing pain. I’ve already got them surgically removed twice, leaving “good looking” scars.

The thought about scars is that they always leave space for good stories, like the one on my right wrist that led this weird guy in a club approach and tell me that He used to do that but not anymore… it took me time to realize that he thought it was some sort drug mark or maybe suicide attempt (which would be dumb since veins are on the other side of the wrist), and when I told him No dude is not what you think, he told me something like Yeah I used to deny it too… anyway…

Image source: www.canstockphoto.com

The problem now is that the “thing” as I call it, won’t go until my hand stops making “efforts”, the good doctor has advised me to use the wrist the least possible, type the least, which me having a full time job as a Technical Writer and having the long-time dream of becoming a Fiction writer, maybe be outputting… but I guess life is not always easy…

Luckily, there are always ways, and I’m happy that I found them. I’ve reduced my manuscript edition workload to the use of pen and paper, right hand is the good one this time (lucky me!), and I’ll see if I can find somebody later who can do all the computer typing. Also, typing at work has improved thanks to a recently acquired Ergonomic keyboard which is magnificent! And since I had to be careful with the type of exercise I chose (one where I don’t use hands), I bought myself an AirClimber (my first Teleshopping – equivalent to QVC – purchase ever!) and I love it!.

And although my hand may not agree with my writing duties and lifestyle, I still have found ways to overcome this situation. And you, have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? (it doesn’t have to involve ganglion cysts)

March 10, 2015
How reading several books at the same time can mess up your sanity

I’m reading four books at the same time right now, well according to my Goodreads account five, but one is about grammar, so it doesn’t really count as reading a book per se (more about studying/reviewing the book). I didn’t intend this situation to happen but got into this without thinking.

Image source: roadtobabylon.com

I’m officially reading (meaning the book by my nightstand) Exposure by Kathy Reichs. Then I started to read In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming when I went on vacations. You see, I wanted to bring a pocket book that I could sneak on planes and everywhere, and I happened to have this one in this version. Then of course, I started with one of my audiobooks, I really like to listen audiobooks whenever I’m driving, riding the bus, or doing cleaning chores, so I started with Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. And then it’s Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, which is the kindle book I get to read whenever I have time at work (which haven’t got much recently and hence may take a while until I finish this one). See, I really didn’t intend this to happen. I find it disturbing, wishing I never got in this situation. Not only I don’t know which one I want to finish first when I have some time off 🙂 but also I get confused between characters and plots (wait wasn’t there an abandoned baby in the plot? (In the Bleak Midwinter) the Virals were trying to find out who was the mother? (Exposure).

My reading situation may sound hilarious, but it is not. The intention of this blog is to advise you against these crazy reading habits 🙂 Just grab one book and finish it first before going to other. Period.

And you have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Do you think is possible to read many fiction books at the same time?

Image source: www.goodsheperd.notts.sch.uk

March 2, 2015
Will I ever stop editing my book?

After some brief vacations on the beach (some heavy burning and the realization that the beach may not be for me), I’ve started the second revision of my manuscript and realized that this one is also going to take me a while. I’ve started with chapter one and there were so many ways to improve it, I practically re-wrote the whole thing again, and I’m still not convinced. I’m planning to go over it again tonight.

Image source: www.gracebooks.org

The positive point is that I believe my writing has improved and it’s getting better each time with more practice and reading. The bad is that I’m afraid I won’t ever stop editing; it seems that I’ll get improving and improving and I’ll never finish editing my manuscript.

Of course when I write, I tend to reach a point where I read my words and find them exciting and beautiful; but after leaving it for a while and coming back to it later, I still find that it’s not what I want it. Am I too perfectionist? That would freak me out. I’ve never been perfectionist in anything else, maybe it was because I’ve never found the necessary interest in other activities, but now is different, all interest and expectations are on board.

So, help, I need advice from people out there who write and sometimes stop to read my blog? When do you know you have to stop editing?

February 24, 2015
Book review: On Writing: A memoir of the craft by Stephen King

I must confess I really like listening to Audiobooks, not only because I can listen to something interesting while driving or riding the bus, but because when it’s well narrated, the voice can give it a very nice plus to the story. Now “On Writing” by Stephen King is a must on audio as well as on paper. How many audiobooks can you get narrated by the same author? Well, the same Stephen King himself reads you this book. In other words, you can hear all his examples, stories, advices in his own voice like he were telling them straight to you. The effect it produces is that you actually believe Stephen King is talking to you, personally, in a one-on-one meeting. You can even consider this gathering as a “close friends” encounter. His voice sticks to your head. And when you finish the book, you can still hear his voice in your head when you’re writing, it’s unbelievably effective!

I’ve read a couple of books about writing, from the grammar perspective to the style, from plot building, to character development, to brainstorming, etc.; all of them good, or at least with plenty of advice for beginner writers. But I must be sincere, I cannot remember much of the advice at the moment. I would have to go through them again or see my notes to remember the exact advice. But from Mr. King, I can remember everything, I can hear him still saying “just be honest and say the f*”, making me laugh and making it easier for me to understand the writing tip (I wonder if I am a better learner when some cursing is around, maybe it helps to grab my attention…)

Besides the excellent tips and clear examples, this book is also about the story of a great career, perseverance, believing, and never giving up. This book is not only for writers, I believe everybody can extract good life advice from it.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend this audiobook to everybody out there who wants to have some sort of writing tutor, a coach, or even a writing friend (I have found myself making references such as “like my good friend Stephen says…”). Stephen King tells you everything you should know about writing and makes sure you do not forget it.

February 13, 2015
February is for slowing down…

So February arrived, and I believe January has been one of the longest months ever!

I started 2015 really well, with my goals set in mind all the time. I feel they are already so engraved in me right now, that it would take the end of the world to drag me away from them, which is good.

The problem now, is that I need to slow down. I have managed to cultivate the habit of writing every single day or else I cannot go to sleep.

In this month, I’ve read a couple of books on grammar, styling, and how to write in general. I’m also about to finish revising my first manuscript. Then, the second revision round will come, and maybe my beta readers will have to wait until March to get their hands on the story.

But right now, I found I’m overdoing the process of writing. After I finished the first manuscript, I didn’t get away from it for a considerable amount of time (as everybody suggested) before revising. Now, I find myself confused about my main character, his role, and why he has become boring. Additionally, the story seems a little bit overwritten, too many things going on, too many things to tie, etc. So, it’s time for a break from the manuscript. I’m really looking forward for my next vacation, which will be exactly in ten days. I’m not a beach person, but this time, I’m really looking forward to go, sit, and just relax.

Image source: www.evilenglish.net

Slow down, should be my motto for February now. Sometimes you can be so motivated, so full of energy, that you don’t pause to breath and risk of wearing yourself out.

So February will be the month where I find myself relaxing. I’ve already started yesterday. I’ve been reading so many books on How to Write, that it had been one entire month since I hadn’t read a good novel. Yesterday, I grabbed one book from my shelf that I haven’t been able to put my hands on yet (Exposure by Kathy Reichs, yeah, big fan of Bones over here), and the feeling of getting into a novel, discovering characters, and following the suspense building of the story, had no price. Damn I said to myself, I forgot about this, about why I wanted to be a writer in first place. I have promised to myself, that no matter what the current events in my life are, I should never forget about going without reading a good book.

For those who write, have you ever come to a similar problem like mine?

February 4, 2015
One tip if you want to improve your writing

I’ve just finished reading “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White; a classic most people recommended me in writers forums if I wanted to be a writer.

I must confess I felt ashamed when I saw the book had been available all this time in my office. When somebody mentioned that it was a tiny little book, I thought, Wait isn’t the one lying over there? If I had known earlier…

Anyway, I found it brilliant. The book went straight to the point. I can’t believe Mr. Strunk Jr. wrote it so long ago (1919 to be precise) and its contents are still applicable today. Of course, E.B. White updated it later, but still the foundations were already there.

This is the first “Style” book I actually read from start to end. I have consulted others, but only for specific topics. Now, I’m considering in going over this book again as soon as I enter into the third revision of my novel manuscript; just to make sure I remember all the words that I’m not supposed to use, the ones that are ambiguous, redundant, or just plain bad english. I felt good knowing that I’ve already eliminated most words from my writing, but at the same time, there were still many others in the book I was not aware of, or just some rules I had forgotten.

Like this style book, I still plan to review other books that people have advised me to read. I’m currently with “On Writing” by Stephen King (I’ll let you know my comments when I finish it). I feel like I am acquiring more knowledge and experience. I love the process.

When I started to write, I believed it was all about inspiration and great ideas. A little part is about that, but little. It is more is about hard work and perseverance.

And you, have you read any style/grammar book to improve your skills? I would like to know if you have any books you can recommend me.

January 14, 2015