Writing by hand

Part of my writing "process" - if that's what I should call it - is to write my first drafts by hand. I have dozens of notebooks, many of them still empty, that I keep close at hand so that I can write when inspiration strikes. I have a hard time coming up with brand new material when I'm typing into my computer. If I already have a good idea of what I want to say, or I'm continuing a scene that is nearly done, I can get fresh material on the computer. But writing by hand is so much easier for me.

Maybe it's because I don't get distracted by typos. Maybe it's easier to strike through a thought and rewrite it rather than delete and try again. But I feel a lot more connected to my writing when I do it by hand.

So, I've been editing a manuscript that I've recently started querying. There was a scene that just plain didn't work. Every time I tried to edit it on the computer, I felt like I was making it worse. Then I'd try stepping away from the computer and rewriting the scene just by hand, but that made the scene go a completely different direction than I'd originally intended. I felt that the answer was somewhere between the scene as it stood in the computer and the scene I'd just free-written. So I copied the scene from my computer into my notebook and looked at it beside the reworked scene I'd written. I began rewriting the scene, combining elements from each version, but doing it all by hand. Finally, I ended up with something I was happy with.

Writing by hand definitely helps unlock my creativity in ways that typing just can't.

Today's Trope: Tall, Dark, and Broody

 

Some tropes are so popular that the mere mention of Tall, Dark, and Broody makes readers assume they know exactly what's going to happen as the story progresses. Does that mean the trope is overdone, or is in need of reworking?

In the queer YA novel I'm currently querying, my main character is introduced to the new guy in the neighborhood, and I intentionally write him as the tall, dark, and broody type. This makes him incredibly appealing to my main character, and ready to overlook the possible dangers of falling for someone who's so hard to get to know. But I feel like I strayed far enough away from the trope that the readers will still be surprised by the outcome. Did I stray far enough? Did I stray too far? Is there such a thing as straying too far from a trope? Hm. Guess I'll have to wait for the book to get published so I can get feedback from the readers.

Writing a good pitch

 

I've been querying my debut novel for little over a week now, and I'm thinking my hook and pitch aren't strong enough to really grab the attention of a literary agent and could use some feedback.

Part of the problem is that my story has a bit slice-of-life. There's no fantastical element, no sci-fi, no world-building. It's contemporary and realistic fiction. But it's a story that means a lot to me and deals with issues that young people can certainly relate to. How do I put that in a pitch that will make it stand out from other slice-of-life books already out on shelves?

This is the pitch I've used thus far: "A gay former-jock must tackle parental expectations and high school shipping culture while dealing with distractions of old hobbies and new flames."

Boring, I know. It doesn't convey the emotional turmoil he's dealing with or the stakes of the decisions he must make throughout the book. But how do I summarize all the tension of a 79K word book into one sentence?

"Setting himself up for the future his mother envisions wasn't in his plans for his sophomore year of high school, neither was coming out of the closet, but expectations at home and pressures at school mean difficult decisions must be made, and soon."

Better?

Ugh. Why does this have to be so hard?

Description vs Dialogue

Since I've started querying my first novel, I'm going through it and trying to read it from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about the story or my characters or this world. It's set in the real world - no fantasy element - but I made up a private school and set it in a real town that I've never been to.

I always thought I was particularly good at writing dialogue. I was even complimented for it by my creative writing teacher back in college. Now I wonder if I might be too good at writing dialogue and action and not good enough at writing descriptions. I seldom include vivid details of rooms people are in, smells they experience, distant sounds, clothes they're wearing. Unless those details directly matter to the plot, I naturally omit them.

Is that a problem? Will readers have a hard time getting sucked into the world if they don't "see" it the same what that I do? I know what everything looks like, smells like, sounds like - I've lived this story for a couple of years now. I want to make sure my readers can experience it as well. But descriptive writing doesn't come easy to me. Sometimes it feels forced, and I worry that it looks forced when I include it out of context to the action. So, where's the line between description for description's sake, and description that advances the plot?

Reading Aloud

I've heard it said that you should read your work out loud at least once during the editing process. It helps to catch repetitive sounds, over-used words, awkward or overlong sentences, etc. I'd never tried it until today, but I'm finding I like this technique.

One reason for reading aloud that I haven't heard discussed is the fact that it slows you down and forces you to focus on each word throughout the story, beginning to end. I think I have a bad habit when rereading my work of just going too fast. I know what happens, so my eyes start skimming over the passages and I lose track of what it is I'm supposed to be editing. Speaking the words makes me pace myself and give just as much attention to chapter 12 as I gave to chapter 2. 

There's an unexpected downside to reading a 79K word book out loud, though. At least for a heavily introverted person such as myself. My voice isn't used to talking this much! I'm barely halfway through and my throat is incredibly sore. I've had two cups of tea, two cups of coffee, and a bunch of water, but nothing has managed to soothe my throat enough that I can continue for the day.

*sigh*

I'll probably have to save the other half of the book for tomorrow, or risk losing my voice for a week. I wouldn't mind losing my voice if I didn't happen to have a day-job that requires human interaction. No one at the office knows I'm trying to get published, and I'd like to keep it that way for now. Explaining that I lost my voice from editing my manuscript will lead to a conversation I'm not ready for. Though, that's a post for another day.

Proofreading vs. Editing

 

Preparing my manuscript to be submitted to literary agents involved a lot of proofreading. I wanted to show them that I can write clearly and precisely. After all, my day-job involves a lot of attention to detail, so I've gotten used to being exact with my written communications.

But maybe I spent time proofreading - looking through the story for grammatical errors and misplaced commas - and not enough time editing the story for content. Sure, I've fixed scenes that were awkward or more exposition than action. I made sure the characters that are supposed to be likeable are likeable. Now I'm worried that I overlooked something rather important to storytelling.

My writing has always been very action driven. I have a lot of dialogue, I show my main character's internal conflict through self-narration. But I don't do a whole lot of scene setting. Unless it's relevant to the action, I tend not to mention what anyone's wearing or the physical layout of spaces. I very seldom include scent. When writing the manuscript, I was so focused on explaining to the reader what happens, I'm not sure I did enough work on describing where it was happening. Will a reader be able to see the world I've created.

I'm not sure, and I'm not sure it my minimal descriptions hurt my storytelling.

I currently have 15 queries out in the world, waiting to see what literary agents have to say about my writing. I'm not going to send out any more queries until I go through my manuscript with a descriptive eye. Can a reader see what I see? I know the story so well. I can see every scene in my mind. I know what people look like, how their voice sounds, what they wear. Will a reader get enough of that to have a vivid experience of the story themselves? That's what I want to focus on right now. How vivid is my writing?