August 6, 2009 at 11:35 am (Random, editing, writing)
Tags: editing, muse, novel, word count, work in progress, writing
So of course, after deciding on Monday that I would officially take a break from Book Two, my muse stopped by on Tuesday to tap me on the shoulder.
Me: No. I’m not listening to you.
Muse: Don’t be mean and nasty.
Me: You abandoned me!
Muse: And you’re oppressive. But let’s not get bogged down in the details.
Me: That’s just it, though, isn’t it? You never give me details! It’s all so dry and boring.
Muse: …Oh no you didn’t.
So despite my best efforts, Tuesday was spent writing between fits of reading other books, and guess what? I banged out 2,500 words. Exactly 2,500 words.
Figuring that this was a sign, I tried to do the same thing yesterday, but that didn’t quite work either.
Me: Oh Muse! Where are you?
Muse: I’m dry, remember? And boring.
Me: But I have chocolate!
Muse: You always forget that I’m allergic, dimwit.
So I’ve decided to just let it be. (The Beatles still give the best advice.) If the words come, they come. If they don’t, so be it. I don’t have the time to wheedle.
I started editing Book One, however, and this is exactly how I feel. Where did my genius go?! I am very upset about this. I’m pretty sure that it’s been kidnapped (probably by one of the short stories on my hard drive that I’ve been neglecting). If you happen to see said genius anywhere, please let me know. I will give you chocolate.
It’s not as if my muse wants any.
So give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses–tell me about your starts and stops for the week, and your horror stories of writing gone wonky over night. We shall commiserate together.
3 Comments
July 23, 2009 at 4:47 pm (Random, writing)
Tags: apprentice, DONE!, manuscript, novel, writing
You can’t see my face right now (at least I hope so, as I’m in a room by myself), but I’m smiling. It is a glorious day here in my living room. Why, you ask? Well, I woke up exhausted but forced myself to get up anyway, so it can’t be that I’m well-rested. I had disgustingly salty and freezer-fried hot dogs for lunch, so it can’t be that I’m well-fed. What’s the secret, then?
Words, my friend.
I decided a few days ago that this book on exorcism was, in fact, not destined to be a single volume—that it would have to be at least two books, perhaps even three, and there was just no getting around it. The plot arc and the word count allow for nothing else. With that in mind, I knew where the ending of Book One would have to come. And I’m pleased to say that it just did. That’s right, baby, I just wrote the last line of my latest book and it was appalling. But there’s a full-stop after it, which makes me happy. I’m closing it at 62,912 words and putting it aside until I write the next episode. I know that a lot of writers would go back at this point and edit Book One, but I have a feeling that things will go better if I just write everything and then edit everything in one grand sweep.
To all the writers working on finishing up their own manuscripts: I’m sending lots of feel-good vibes your way. I’ve had my fair share and it’s time for me to spread the love. Best of luck to you and here’s to me diving into Book Two!
7 Comments
July 14, 2009 at 11:06 pm (Random, YA, blog, fantasy, writing)
Tags: blog, harry potter, novel, synopsis, website, work in progress, writing, writing retreat
I’m sure that one of these days I’ll break down and get a website or something, but as I do not want a free one and am a broke college student, that route is not currently an option.
In the meantime, I’ve added a few (ie two) new pages to the non-blog section of the blog. The first covers past projects and the second covers current projects, so that bored and interested parties might be able to learn a little bit more about my writing. Both pages will be permanently accessible through the menu on the left-hand side of your screen (under the “About Anna” page which is directly beneath the sultry grad-day photo of yours truly).
The best part of either page really must be the little banners. Actually, they’re the reason why I decided to do the listings in the first place. I got on a bit of a paint.NET binge and decided that it’d only be really pathetic if I couldn’t say that they had some purpose. Purpose is born!
But you shouldn’t be reading over my random projects right now; you should be heading to the theater to watch Half Blood Prince along with everyone else in the world. I’ll be going that direction myself in the next couple of hours, so just pretend that we’re theater buddies. But I warn you: I scare easily. Yeah, I’m totally that annoying viewer in the back of the audience who jumps and gasps when they aren’t supposed to, and then acts as if it’s the result of a nervous condition. I can’t help it if I spasm! Ask my doctor!
Then tomorrow I’m off to spend some time with my grandmother again. I don’t know how long I’ll be there—I’m assuming till at least Friday, but it may turn into a shorter stay than expected. But my work-in-progress needs a kick-start so we’ll see.
In the meantime, while you’re pining away for me like I tell myself you will be, watch that movie and give me your thoughts. And then read my project summaries and tell me how silly I am. Mind-reading squirrels…? Seriously, Anna? Yes, seriously. It’s a nervous condition. Ask my doctor.
6 Comments
June 15, 2009 at 5:53 pm (P/S Novel Contest, Random, editing, new york, travel, writing)
Tags: book lists, editing, family, friends, new york, novel, oklahoma, summer, writing
So I made it home okay and have been taking a few days to settle back in. It’s funny, because I wasn’t all that excited about leaving NYC, even though it meant that my relaxing summer was beginning. Then, as the plane was skimming down over OKC, I got this huge wash of emotion. I was happy to see things that felt familiar, and excited to see my family in the terminal, and even relieved to feel the long-lost pressure of humidity as we deplaned. I knew two things: It was good to be home, and this was going to be the setting of my next novel.
Since then, I’ve spent time cooking and visiting people and talking to my brother. And taking my dog on walks. And gathering books from my to-be-read list. Oklahoma really makes me appreciate the simple things.
I’ve also finished up edits and sent out copies to a bunch of friends. I need some time away from the novel, and I need a pool of feedback to draw from. I hope to get comments back by July so that I can rewrite again and send the second draft back to NY. Until then, I think that I’m going to take a few days off from writing to do things around the house and digest some new books. Then I may get started on my new next novel. Yes, that does mean that the last new novel is being put on hold. But that’s okay. I think that it’s one that deserves more tact and time than many.
So just a quick post to keep you updated on where I am. More news within the next few weeks, I’m sure.
2 Comments
June 8, 2009 at 8:08 pm (P/S Novel Contest, editing, new york, writing)
Tags: editing, friends, hostel, new york, novel, scholastic, st. paul, writing
I’ve been posting more often than usual, but I suppose it can’t hurt since who knows whether or not I’ll go underground after getting home from New York? It looks like it’s going to be a pretty literary summer though, so maybe I’ll stick around.
Anyway, today after work I went to Chinatown to buy souvenirs and food, armed with a single dollar and a debit card, intending to withdraw from an ATM. And then Chase rejected me. What the hell, Chase? Not cool. So I bought a dollar’s worth of fried dumplings, which was actually a decent deal–they were good dumplings and surprisingly filling–and took the subway all the way back to Harlem. My hostel’s ATM machine didn’t reject me! Take that, Chase! But because I didn’t by the croissants I intended to, I decided to just give up on the tasty sandwich I was planning. So now I’m eating a pint of AmeriCone dream, trying to ignore the calorie count. For my stomach’s sake, it’s a good thing I’m leaving NY soon. I need green things. And natural sugar from fruit. And fish that isn’t canned in tomato sauce.
But the bigger news is that we went over another section today! About eighty pages. Most of the work I’m doing is on character development. Going deeper than before and filling in small plot holes. I’ve been getting into my characters’ heads in a more direct way, which is proving interesting. I’m glad, because the story is very character-driven and revealing more about them to the reader is giving the novel far more strength overall. Luckily, my muse seems very willing to rise to the occasion, so I’m trying to humor her. Hence the ice cream dinner. Or at least this is how I justify myself. To myself. Yes, I have issues, I know.
I’m also about 10,000 words into the project I have planned for this summer, which I’m super excited about. The first few pages don’t really match up with where I’m heading right now, but I can always go back and edit. I’ve decided to take notes on discrepancies and just focus on getting the thing on paper, since my goal is to have a workable draft by August. I have a few basic concerns, but we’ll see what happens. After all, things may get changed around a lot by the time I hit the gut of the story.
Also, when I get back to St. Paul for my fall semester, I may end up taking a day trip to Fort Snelling for research. Intriguing, I know.
Oh and I saw Up this weekend! So good! Big themes! I think that Disney is trying really hard to break from the criticisms that it’s received in the past, but I do believe that the break is good. They don’t have everything pinned down yet, but they’re working hard, and their stories are all the better for it. So kudos to Disney. And to Pixar, of course. Everyone is infatuated with Pixar.
3 Comments
May 27, 2009 at 7:57 pm (P/S Novel Contest, editing, writing)
Tags: collaboration, editing, internship, nanomachines, new york, novel, novel contest, packing, Publishing, short story, writing
Ah, Wednesday. So busy.
We were intending to start edits yesterday but it didn’t work out; this is such a busy month in publishing! My heart goes out to all the editors, agents, and authors who are scrambling to get everything to press on time. We did dive in today though, and it was a great experience.
My emotional state in regards to the contest is constantly in flux, though always on an upswing. Sometimes I’m going along just dandy and then someone says something or does something that makes me stop and think and realize what a complete honor this really is. And then I go back and look over the pages that I submitted last spring and wonder why in the world they picked me, and feel so utterly indebted and so pathetically shocked that I stare at my keyboard, frantic because I can’t possibly live up to all of the expectations.
Getting line edits from David is one such experience; knowing that he not only took the time to give my novel multiple reads, but is now taking the time to go through and tell me exactly what needs to be worked on, and why, exactly, each change needs to be made, is enough to make me both giddy and frantic for quite a while. We went over the first three chapters this morning and then I edited through the afternoon, and, when I finished, I reworked a short story that I wrote yesterday.
Most of the changes made on the novel were pretty basic–cutting and reworking scenes and tinkering with dialog and descriptions. I have a feeling that once we get into the heart of the plot, though, there will be a lot more overhauling to be done. I have to say that I’m looking forward to it. It was awesome to get critiques on issues that I hadn’t even considered before, and to hear the logic behind fixing scenes that I knew needed work, but was too close to to be able to say why.
Tomorrow is moving day! You can only stay in hostels for fourteen days so I have to move out of this one after tonight. After much deliberation, I decided to get some of my stuff over to the new place today so that I wouldn’t have to stress about it tomorrow, so I went after work to scout it out and ask whether that would be okay and then came back and picked up my big duffel bag. I considered taking the subway but once I realized that I couldn’t lift the thing higher than six inches for any extended period of time, I caved and hailed a cab. That’s what I get for trying to live out of one bag for four weeks I guess. But it wasn’t that expensive so I shouldn’t complain.
I also have a whole stack of postcards that I need to send out. On my to-do list for tomorrow, hopefully. Also on my to-do list? My brother and I decided last night/this morning to write a book together over the summer. Considering our sense of humor, you should probably be very, very afraid. I, on the other hand, am only very, very excited. We talked about it for three hours last night and decided that it should involve Wisconsin, nanomachines, titanium fangs, and possibly the letter Ø.
2 Comments
April 29, 2009 at 1:05 am (P/S Novel Contest, editing, new york, q&a, writing)
Tags: copyright, editing, finals, gold key, how to, internship, new york, novel, novel contest, q&a, synopsis, writing
OhmyGodfinalsIhateyou. It’s crunch time people! Which means procrastination time, which means (drumroll) Question and Answer!
From Nicola:
I was hoping you could answer a question: the guidelines say that you need to submit an outline. How detailed does my outline need to be/how detailed was yours?
What they’re looking for is a standard synopsis, like any synopsis you would submit to an agent or editor. It seems that the judges don’t assume you’ve finished your novel, which makes it a little different from a normal pitch, but they do want to know where you’re going with it. I personally had finished my novel, so it was pretty easy to outline. Include all major characters, the setting and main plot points, and, if you have it, the ending. Mine was two pages exactly, double spaced. I don’t remember whether or not it said how long they wanted it, but two pages is a conservative standard so if they don’t specify I’d say go along those lines.
Here are a couple of resources:
How to Write a Synopsis (From Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent)
Workshop: Writing the Novel Synopsis
They can take a lot of work and honing, so don’t get frustrated if you find yourself slaving over writing and rewriting at this stage.
—
From T.K. Harpene
When did you find out that you were advancing on/receiving an award in the contest? What did you gain from it (awards, lessons, etc.)?
I heard back on April 30th. Since the novel side of the competition is through PUSH and is read over there, you don’t actually move from state to nationals like in other categories in the Art and Writing awards. The pieces are all read over and narrowed down, and then the gold key and silver key winners are announced. David told me that he normally puts in a call, but I happened to be at work when he called my house, so he left his number and sent me an email. We finally got a chance to talk on the phone a few days later and he went over some more of the specifics on what they’d decided on their end and how things were going to progress.
As far as what I gained, I’m sure you’ve read over the specifics of the contest as often as I did prior to submitting, because everyone deserves to be a little OCD sometime. The guidelines are pretty straightforward without being straightforward at all, which seems to be a special talent among contest developers. Basically, you get invited to the national awards ceremony in New York, which I wasn’t able to attend, unfortunately, because I was out of the country. If you do get to go, I’m pretty sure that they have workshops and general get-togethers for contest winners in all the different categories. They’ll give you a medallion and a certificate, or mail it to you if you can’t attend. Since I had a complete manuscript I went ahead and sent it to David, but I’m not sure what happens otherwise. Perhaps you send what you have so far? I couldn’t really say. You’re offered an internship in New York to work on editing the manuscript (or finishing the novel, as the case may be). It’s an offer that can’t expire, so since I couldn’t go last summer I’ll be going this year, but I could have put it off even longer if I’d needed to. I don’t know too much about the logistics of the internship, except that it’s paid, but considering cost of living in NY, and the plane ride out there, I’ll be lucky to break even. I think that they tailor what you work on with where your manuscript is at at the time of your arrival, so I’ll probably be doing heavy rewrites. The hope is to start the piece on its way to publication, but Scholastic never commits itself to actually publishing. If the board decides that it’s publishable and thinks that it will sell, then you’ll be offered a standard contract and they’ll begin that process. They do have first rights to the piece, so if you decide not to publish with Scholastic (for some insane, unknown reason) you can’t actually shop it out to anyone else.
Hope those answers were helpful! Everyone is invited to ask anything they want and aid my procrastination campaign!
5 Comments
July 24, 2008 at 6:35 pm (P/S Novel Contest)
Tags: blog, novel, novel contest
On March 15th, 2008, I went to the post office.
Destination?
Scholastic Inc., New York, New York.
For my manuscript, that is. Or at least the first forty-seven pages of it, which, in trying to stay within contest guidelines, had undergone a rather crafty stapling job (I’ve yet to find an actual industrial stapler, thank you very much).
The entry forms were clipped to the corner, but had suffered such compulsive checking that their edges were beginning to curl.
Eventually even I had to admit that yes, everything really was there, and no, another look wasn’t justified. The envelope was sealed (with tape!), then weighed and stamped, the postage paid for, and the deadline met with about two hours to spare.
I didn’t discuss the contest with anyone for the next forty-five days.
Then, on the 30th of April, I was contacted with an email including the hallowed phrase “this isn’t a joke” (The only words you’ll never see in a rejection letter).
Loss of breath.
Heart in throat.
Incoherent sentences as I yelled at my brother in the next room.
“Jason! My book! AH! Jason, remember my book?”
A pause, and then:
“…Should I?”
So went one of the best moments of my life.
So, also, emerged the excuse of launching an online journal. (The underlying Evil Plan™ is to see how many people I can guilt in to reading it, but keep that hush-hush)
I invite you into the peanut gallery, where you can witness my semi-blind stumble through college, writing, and life in general. Please try not to jeer too much (I am told that a little jeering, however, is good for the constitution).
Cheers!
Anna W. Waggener
2 Comments
