Fable and Fancy: writing

Checking In and Getting Back on Track

The past months have been a WHIRLWIND. I can't even — I really had no idea how much life would have changed since my last post!

LIFE

1. Hubby and I bought a house! It was a shockingly easy process (which we've been told never happens) but moving is my least favorite thing. When we weren't unpacking the last of our boxes, we were painting walls, weeding overgrown garden beds, and discovering all the "quirks" as we like to call them, in our houses old electrical wiring.

2. Hubby and I got a puppy! In a moment of pure insanity (and stupidity) we got a puppy the same weekend we moved in. His Majesty, Lord Theodore Winston, or just Theo, is settling in as best can be expected to a pup. There was a brief bout of illness that had Hubs and I discussing Theo's bowel movements more than I've ever discussed BM's in my entire life. Now we spend our days asking, "What are you eating? What's in your mouth? Is that feces all over your paws? Who's gonna pick that bur off his butt?" and saying things like, "It's too quiet. Where's he pooping now? Don't eat that dead bird! Don't lick that! Quit chewing those! Oy with the poodles already!"

Regardless, he is pretty much the most adorable thing ever, with no control over his limbs, and we are completely smitten.

3. HUBBY AND I ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! Hubby and I have finally made plans to take a vacation! The first one since 2013! And what better place for two grown-ups with the souls of seven-year-olds to go than Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter? We're heading to Orlando this fall and praying there won't be any hurricanes!

WRITING

I wrote some things and things are happening! I have some big novel projects I'm working on, but the past few months have been short story central! I'm currently in the middle of Camp Nanowrimo, editing I Wish I May (again) so I can start querying/submitting this fall. I'll make sure to keep you guys posted on how the process goes. I also might submit to Pitchwars if I get my manuscript polished to a shine in time for the submission window.

Beauty and the Beet

I wrote this short story for a contest on Wattpad. It unfortunately didn't get enough votes to advance to the judging stage (I was pretty darn close though!!), but I still got a sweet little short story out of it. I'm a huge fan of cooking shows, so this story was my chance to create my own version of the Great British Bake Off. If you have a sweet tooth, this story is for you!

Bumble

Short story #2 was for Rebecca Sky's Sun Kissed Summer Fantasy Anthology. The story is one I have wanted to write for a LONG time and I finally had an excuse to. This is magical realism all the way. Magical honey, bees, carnivals, magicians, fairies, AND it's set in a town inspired by the one I grew up in! Someday I'm definitely going to turn this into a novel! There was so much I couldn't fit into a short story, but for now, you can read it HERE.

There's probably something I've forgotten, but this update will have to do for now! What's up blogosphere? What are you working on?

4 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

editing

February Wrap-Up!

Oh, February. You were a gross, snowy and grey month, and I'm sad to say you won't be missed. I'm so ready for spring and I am SO ready to be rid of my writing funk. Since I haven't really been feeling up to social media this month, I decided to do a recap of everything that's been going on!

WHAT'S THE 411?

The biggest news of note is that the hubby and I have started looking to buy a house! WHAT? I'm still pretty sure I'm not adult enough to buy a house, but our bank seems to think we're mature enough humanoids that they'd loan money to us. True story: buying a house is super complicated and not at all a low-stress process. Luckily we are already in a great apartment so we aren't on a time crunch and we have time to find just the right place, and time to listen for the plans God has for us.

Since January, I've been in a generally awful patch of writer's block. I wrote about how I've been dealing with that nasty little beast here.

In other news, I quit my job at the magazine, and I now am exclusively working part time at my church as the church administrator which involves lots of graphic design, and about all the other random things that are needed to keep a church running (building maintenance aside).

WHAT AM I WRITING?

I'm still trying to finish my Christmas novella, Mistletoe & Matrimony which I got a very late start on last year. Yeah, I mentioned the writer's block didn't I? I can write about 200 words a day, and while that's not much, it's still progress. Hard fought progress. I'm still in love with the story, I just need the words to come faster. Please, words. I miss you!

Follow Adelyn's board Mistletoe & Matrimony on Pinterest.

WHAT AM I EDITING?

I'm slowly working away at I Wish I May. I'm currently editing a chapter a week mainly for posting on Wattpad, but I will be ramping up the speed on my major edits soon. I've already overhauled chapters 1-5 while also second-guessing decisions I made about some of the overarching plots, but these changes are something I'm going to feel out with more feedback. My plan is to have it ready to send out to Beta readers and to submit to contests at the end of March.

BEST OF FEBRUARY

FILM

So I watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and it was nice. So nice I saw it twice. In theaters. I have even contemplated seeing it for a third time it was so fierce. It was quirky, and silly and so unbelievably amazing. Overall, I learned two things from this film: first, that Jane Austen is, truly, even better with Zombies. Second, that everyone is gay for Mr. Darcy.

LITERATURE

It was a very Austen month. I read a wonderful novel called Glass Roses: A Victorian Fairytale. How is this for a concept: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that magic is required for any young lady to find her “happily ever after” in a fairytale. This truth is so ingrained in the minds of readers that to suggest its removal is incomprehensible. But what if the magic is removed? Is it possible to find true love when the world is perfectly ordinary?" It was a retelling of both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, told in epistolary format, and I was definitely into it. You can read my glowing review on Goodreads.

FANDOM

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing worth watching this month has been Agent Carter. Considering how amazing season one was, I tempered my expectations for season two, but steeling myself for a sophomore slump was drastically unnecessary. This season has been so wonderfully well-written and so enthralling that I pretty much am living for Fridays when I get to watch a new episode. I am an unabashed PeggySous shipper and this season has been one giant tease for PeggySous shippers. There have been so many tortured glances and if this ship actually sails in the finale I might explode.

"Do as Peggy says."

And that pretty much sums up my month. Feel free to harass me to finish editing my novels because it is long overdue. March, please don't suck as much as February. Other than that, feel free to share your Jarvelous writing plans below so we can keep each other accountable!

5 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

noveling

Coping with Writer's Block

There comes a time in every writer's life, when they encounter debilitating writer's block. Writing is awesome and incredibly rewarding, but it is also ridiculously hard—some times more so that others. I have been stuck in a writing rut (block) since the start of January. Yeah... that long. Yeah... it sucks. Trying to write is like herding a bunch of cats; thoughts don't connect and words just don't seem to fit the way they used to (even writing this post was brutal). It's also saddening as it is frustrating. For a writer whose life is dedicating to rearranging 26 letters into magical phrases that turn into even more magical stories, it's like losing a magical part of what makes me, me.

I'm pretty sure, writer's block looks different for everyone, and everyone has their own tricks for overcoming it. I certainly haven't found the failsafe cure yet, but I've learned a few things.

Everyone Gets Burnt Out

I was going going going all winter long with two jobs and my writing taking up my days from dawn to dusk. Considering all that was going on, and with the pressure I was putting on myself to edit I WISH I MAY, I'm not surprised at all that my writing tap dried up. And man, when it did, you can bet it threw me for a loop. At first I felt like a failure—like there was something I was doing wrong that made it hard to create. This, seeing other people writing away and getting things done, was painful. I was there not two months ago, blissfully typing away with endless words at my fingertips. It's hard not to get down on yourself when you know what it feels like when the words flow. You think "there's got to be something I can do to make the words come back?"

Truthfully, it's okay to get burnt out, and even more so, it's okay to take a step back. Taking a step back is not failure—it isn't quitting either. For me this meant pulling back on how much I was doing. Between all my social media platforms, blogging, and answering comments on Wattpad, there was a lot that took my attention away from writing.

Priority Check

With a job taking up more of my time, and writing at a snail's pace, having writer's block forced me to take a hard look at how I spend my time. This means that over the past month my blog has fallen a bit idle, comments have gone unanswered and there has been quite a bit of radio silence on my end. When the inspiration flows I could sit down at any time of day and crank out 2,000 words. Now... not so much. When I work up the courage and energy to sit down and write, I have to make it count. That means cutting out distractions. If I get anything good out of this experience, this is probably part of it. It's so easy to get distracted with everything other than writing, because (even in the good times) the act of sitting down and writing is the hardest thing we do in our day. Writer's block was my brain's was of saying "TIME OUT!" and it forced me (kicking and screaming and with weeping and gnashing of teeth) to take a hard look at what benefits me as a writer, and what is just a distraction.

Baby Steps

So how do I even get back to a good place as a writer? By scaling back. Start by eliminating one thing from your list that takes away from writing. It's a good place to start because it shakes up your routine. From there, shake up the writing routine. Write someplace new! Try writing by hand instead of on your computer. Write laying down. Try writing in silence (or to music if you usually write in silence). I tried all these things and I have to say they work. Seriously, there are so many ways to change up how you write. I'm not adding anything new to what's out there. Just go on Pinterest and search for "writer's block" and you'll come up with about a hundred and a half ways to change things up. If you keep pushing on, doing what you're doing and don't make a single change, you'll never get out of the rut. Take it from me, I just learned this the hard way.

Feast and Famine

Inspiration comes in cycles. This isn't the first time I've had writers block and I'm sure it won't be the last. If you have been writing for years, you definitely will know this to be true. If you are reading this because this is the first time you've encountered it, know that it comes and goes. There are times of feast and there are times and famine, but it's important not to let the times of famine keep you from pushing yourself on. After all, "a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor." You guys, we're gonna make it! I promise!

So what are some ways that you've found to combat writer's block? Sound off below!

4 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

Beautiful Books

Beautiful Books Link-up!

So, I never got to do a proper Nanowrimo wrap-up considering my husband was so sick and then December happened, and yeah, I'm still trying to catch up on all the chaos and respond to wattpad comments and messages and all the other things I've committed to. BUT I decided to do my first link-up under Beautiful Books so I could catch you all up on how Suite Revenge is going. If you've never heard of Beautiful Books, check out the details for the link-up here on Paper Fury's blog or at Sky's blog Further Up and Further In. It's basically 10 questions about your current work-in-progress, so here goes...

1. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how did the book turn out? Did anything defy your expectations?

5... Well... it's not done yet. I had only just reached the first plot point and the end of the first act before life decided to put it on hold. But from what I got done in Nano, I'm really excited about where it's going. Defying expectations? We'll have to see. *Sighs* I still have a long way to go, though. I will say it's a bit lighter than I expected, which is surprising considering there's murder involved.

2. Comparative title time: what published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men.)

How do I begin to describe Suite Revenge. It's an Edwardian cocktail that's one part Downton Abbey...

...two parts Gran Hotel...

...shaken with a dash of amateur sleuthing...

...and garnished with a twist of magic.

3. Do you enjoy working with deadlines and pressure (aka NaNoWriMo)? Or do you prefer to write-as-you’re-inspired?

Do I like it? No. Does it make me a more productive writer? YES! I don't think any writer enjoys writing when they aren't inspired but it is a discipline worth practicing because it comes in handy when I already have very limited time to write as it is. It will be doubly handy when I have to meet deadlines!

4. How do you go about editing? Give us an insight into your editing process.

I can't speak for Suite Revenge, but I'm about to start my round two of edits on my other novel I Wish I May. I'm pretty sure I won't ever feel really confident that I know what I'm doing when it comes to editing, but here's the game plan: first I let it sit for a while, then I print out the entire thing and read it straight through, reading to look at the story as whole. I make sure the plot makes sense and the rules of my world building and characterization are consistent throughout. Then comes re-writing. Then comes the fine tuning and intense word-by-word scrutiny.

5. What aspect of your story needs the most work?

ALL OF IT! First, the tone is all over the place. It's suspenseful in one moment, heartfelt the next, and then all of a sudden it's light-hearted. I'm pretty sure when I go back and read through the thing it'll read like I have ADD. I'm pretty sure I got TOO inspired and carried away with all the shiny things I wanted to put into the story. Secondly, there are so many characters, many of which I'm worried will get lost in the shuffle. It's going to be a major task making each of them memorable AND unique. And third, the world building needs more fleshing out. I have an entire, literal, underground society to build. Yeah. My work is cut out from me. Whenever I get around to editing this story I'll probably need daily emotional support as I try to parse through what my manically inspired brain thought was so necessary to the story.

6. What aspect of your story did you love the most?

The story is set in a hotel of my own imagining which I will admit, is one of the most amazing settings I've ever had the pleasure of dreaming up. I kind of have a thing for hotels. I blame my obsession, in part, on Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel. Some of it can be blamed on Gran Hotel which is a wonderfully fabulous Spanish soap opera, but most of the obsession can be blamed on an even worse British drama called Hotel Babylon. I gobbled up all the behind-the-scenes drama of running a hotel one summer between college semesters and a fascination was born.

7. Give us a brief run down on your main characters and how you think they turned out. Do you think they’ll need changes in edits?

First, there's Elsie Ellison, the hotel maid and amateur sleuth. She's got a lot of determination and an inquisitive nature that gets her into trouble. She's sixteen and on the hunt to solve her mother's disappearance, but finds herself wrapped up in something much bigger. Then, there's the constable, Arthur Mulloy. Arthur is very much Elsie's foil. Where Elsie can be impulsive and intuitive, Arthur is analytical and detached. He's all about getting the job done and keeping his head low.

I'm not sure how much will change in edits. My characterization usually gets stronger and more defined in later drafts and I expect this will very much be the case for Elsie and Arthur as well. Right now, I like how they play off of each other so the basics will definitely stay the same.

8. What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever?

My plans are to finish — simple as that. We'll cross the editing bridge when we get there.

9. Share a favourite snippet!

The inspector turned and ducked back into the wine cellar. Mrs. Gravely gave Elsie a push toward the open and door and she found she’d rather be interrogated by the inspector than left alone with that woman.

In the wine cellar, Elsie found the room occupied by another: a dark haired boy, who looked to be near her age, stood with his back to the stone wall of room. He wore a blue, high collared policeman’s tunic with a constabulary helmet tucked under his arm. There were numbers and letters on his collar, but their meaning escaped Elsie. He watched her in a detached way from where he leaned almost casually against the wall. His eyes were a light grey, perhaps blue; it was hard to see in the dim light of the cellar and the angles of his brow and cheekbones cast deep shadows over his face. Elsie didn’t like the effect. He looked cold, skeletal, as he stood watching her, refusing to break her gaze. A table with two chairs sat between them and she was glad for it.

Elsie’s stomach gave a weird sort of twitch as his eyes followed her path towards the table.

10. What are your writing goals and plans for 2016?

I have a notebook full of my master plans, but at the top of the list is editing I Wish I May which is my baby and the wonderful, darling little novel I'm going to query agents with. I probably shouldn't say little — it's well over 100K words.

Be sure to stop by the Beautiful Books Link-Up! Sound off below: Do you have any secrets to productive editing? If you do, I'm gonna need them.

4 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

nanowrimo

Mid-Nanowrimo Update: Things I've Learned

Well... we're over halfway there and I'm way behind. Way way behind—but that's okay! I'm still determined to finish out the month strong even if that means finishing without making it to 50,000 words. So far amidst road trips, my husband falling sick with a three-day flu, work crises, deadlines and a plethora of unnecessary drama, I'm almost to 20,000 words. That's a lot for a little over two weeks—especially for this slow writer—but not for Nanowrimo. Excuses aside, I've already made a running list of reminders to myself as I attempt to press on:

ANXIETY KILLS WORDCOUNTS

I have anxiety. Mostly mild stuff but it can creep up on me when I least expect it—like when my husband brings home the flu: hello full-on panic mode. When my brain goes into a panic, it's working double time and all it can focus on is the anxiety, which is bad news for writing because it isn't going to happen. Not until the dust settles and that usually means late-night writing sessions where my brain is too tired to dwell on anything else. That brings me to item number two.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH FIRST

Sitting around all day eating nothing but junk for an entire month is going to make anyone feel less than their best, but health is mental too. There will be times when I have to step away and do what you have to do to deal with anxiety. I need to give myself those writing breaks and the freedom to put other things before my Nano project because it's not the first priority. I can't beat myself up if work or anxiety ruins a writing day—that will only put me in a bad place where writing becomes a toxic source of guilt and that, to me, is infinitely worse than missing my words count.

SHOW UP AND PUT UP

I schedule my writing time, but often I feel my attention drifting to other matters. I have several side projects that demand attention, but the real killer is finding myself adrift through the internet. When it's writing time, it's fingers-on-the-keyboard-eyes-off-pinterest-time. If I'm going to schedule the time to write, I'd better be writing. This is probably the best thing Nano can teach is the ability to shut out everything else and write.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR OWN PAGE

It's so easy to get discouraged when you're behind yet you see people put up 30k words in a day and finish at day three (If that is you, holy crap you're amazing. Don't let us slow-pokes stop you). But honestly, HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? Second, are there diapers involved? Third, and more importantly, is that even something I'd want to do? Nope. That's not me. I'm guessing that involves intensive prep and outlining and while I believe in prep, I'm pretty adamant about my headlights approach to outlining. I have an ending in mind and a time frame for the story, but that's all I need to get where I'm going. That's my method, but that's not everyone's method, and if I've learned anything in my 25 years of life, it's that comparison is the thief of joy. There are definitely times where I wonder if I'm doing it all wrong, but then I remember that no two authors walk the same road. The way of others is not my way, so I've been making sure to keep my eyes turned firmly ahead.

WRITE WITH RECKLESS ABANDON

There's a reason I don't outline my first drafts—it's because I love the pure exploration phase of a novel. I place my characters into a plot and then I see what happens. I can't let my characters act for themselves when I'm working with a rigid outline. Gosh, that sounds pretentious, but I need flexibility. Plotting aside, with writing this many words in a month, there is no time to sit back and chew on the phrasing of my sentences as I am oft to do outside of Nanowrimo. Here's what Nano has taught me over the years: be willing to let your first draft suck. Over and over, I've told myself "no one is going to read this." The first draft is for me and me alone.

HAVE FUN

The most important thing I've learned: it's not worth it for me if I'm miserable i.e. it's being a toxic source of guilt. So far, it's not. Writing is my love and my passion, but I don't need Nano to finish a novel. Nano, I do for the community and the joy of writing a story with others alongside me. I have a huge novel to edit when this is over so my primary goal besides getting to 50k words, is getting there without getting burnt out. I might be tired at the end, but if it's a burnout sort of tired it won't be worth it.

And that's all for now, because it's time to write. But first, what have you guys learned?

5 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

nanowrimo

NANOWRIMO 2015

So who's up for writing 50,000 words in a month? I am most certainly going to give it a shot again this November. This will be my third try at Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month for all you non-writers) and maybe, with the right planning, I just might make it 50k mark this year. I've come close in recent years, but it's still a major challenge for this slow writer.

WHAT WILL I BE WRITING, YOU ASK?

Just a little something I've been planning, tentatively titled Suite Revenge. Edwardian England. Magic. Murder. Class struggles... yeah, the research for this hasn't been random at all. So here's the blurb:

"Chambermaid and amateur sleuth, Elsie Ellison starts work at London’s finest hotel with the hope that her position will be the next step in solving the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. But when an esteemed lady of high society is most inconveniently found murdered in her suite, the staff and the hotel's discerning occupants are all thrown into chaos as they are caught up in the investigation. For Elsie, nothing could be more thrilling than to witness a real intrigue first hand. That is until magic appears to be the killer's weapon of choice — and Elsie was the last person to see the deceased alive.

In Edwardian England, nothing could be more vulgar to the old guard nobility than magic, nothing except perhaps electricity. Constable, Arthur Mulloy knows this fact all too well. Magicians are barely tolerated outside of Lower London, and he and his superior officer are in pursuit of a rogue one until their attention is drawn to a high society murder at none other than the Pemberton Hotel. While the Yard would like the case closed quickly and quietly, it seems the murderer has a message for the upper classes: magic is here to stay; make way or be prepared to suffer the consequences."

IN THE MEANTIME...

When I'm not working on revising I Wish I May, I'm working on a familiar piece of Fantasy with my critique group that's much darker than my usual fare, titled Mordant. You may have read a snippit of it I wrote for a contest last year. I haven't been able to get the girl with the poison kiss out of my head since, so she's getting her own novel.

The First Paragraph:

"Each step of my determined trudge through the shin-deep, reeking mud is met with a wretched squelch and all I can think is that I hope this Oracle is worth my ruined boots. My movement, which has been torturously slow, has come to a full stop as I must pull my leg loose from a particularly soft patch of earth. With a good tug, my foot breaks the suction and the pocket collapses, spraying my face with sludge. It is no matter, though at times like these I resent my heightened Fey senses. I tuck the loosened strands of coal black hair into my braid and set my gaze ahead. Amid the muck and mire, the jagged outline of a castle ruin rises from the swamps of the shadow realm. The end of my journey is near."

There you have it! She's dark and twisty in all the best ways and is ready to wreak some havoc on those who cursed her. It have quite a lot going on at the moment, but I couldn't be more excited to bring these stories and characters to life!

Will any of you guys be taking up the torch with me to write 50k words this November? What are you doing to get ready?

12 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

noveling

I Finished A Novel... Now What?

As many of you know from my social media accounts, I've finished the first draft of I Wish I May! The grand total: 108,260 words and 359 pages of 8.5 x 11" paper. I wrote "The End" on August 31st and let me tell you... it felt oh so good. It took a grand total of six months to write this luscious hunk of paper and it wasn't always easy. There were definitely ups and downs and writing certain parts of this novel felt like pulling teeth, but this is my darling novel. From the moment that I wrote the first conversation between Zelda and the prince in a notebook at the laundromat, it was love at first sight.

Now it's time to edit. I started my first full read-through this morning and I can't wait to make this manuscript the best it can be. There are a few ideas rattling around my head for changes, but most importantly, I can't wait to send it off to my beta readers. In the meantime, if teen lit, fairy godmothers, magic, and romance are things that interest you, you can read chapters one through ten on Wattpad and Figment.

So what's next? It's time to get back to work that's what. Between editing, I have tons of projects down the pike I can't wait to sink my teeth into.

I have a short story in progress called The Painter's Apprentice that I'm working on finishing. It's an alternative history of the French Revolution (sort of), but it was mostly an excuse to flex my writing muscles to craft a story in first person POV and present tense. You can read it on Wattpad and Figment if art, revolution, and Fae folklore are your thing.

After that, my next project is the second of my Victorian Christmas novellas. Last Christmas I wrote a novella in twelve parts called Carols & Courtship and posted a chapter daily for each of the twelve days leading up to Christmas (sort of). In the chaos of the holiday I ran a little behind, so my goal this year is to have the novella done before the actual holidays arrive since I will be in and out of town this year. I have given this sequel the title Mistletoe & Matrimony. This story will follow one of the characters from Carols & Courtship as they try to find the happy ending they didn't get in the previous novella.

As for my next novel, I have a notebook full of possibilities and a few short stories I want to turn into full novels, but my next project has never seen the light of day...yet. I'm a total pinaholic when it comes to creating Pinterest boards for new story ideas. You can usually guess what I'll be writing next based on these, but I will confess... I keep the best stuff secret. I'm still working on the characters and won't likely have time to start until 2016, but I thought I would share a few images from my secret Pinterest board. If Edwardian England, magic, and class struggles are your thing, well... you're going to have to wait a little while for this one.

2 comments

, by Adelyn Sterling

book mapping

A Practical Guide to Book Mapping

Editing a book is hard. So is keeping the big picture in mind, but it's a lot easier if you have a bird's eye view. Recently, I started editing a novel and found I needed a way to keep track of the novel's big picture. I've done this in the past with notecards on a cork board, but I needed something editable that wouldn't take rearranging eighty notecards or lengths of string to move things around. Anything I couldn't access from Panera was not an option, and if it was too complicated of a system, I know I wouldn't keep up with it.

Between sessions of Camp Nanowrimo, my amazing cabin mates and I began discussing Developmental Editing and the lovely Angela Myron turned me on to the book mapping technique. She shared JK Rowlings infamous hand drawn book map with the group. I'm sure every Potterhead and writer alike has seen it floating around on the internet, but the idea intrigued me.

I did some Google searching and found a few articles from writers who use book maps to help them through the editing process, but everyone seemed to have a different way of doing it. There doesn't seem to be a wrong way so long as your chart gives you a look at the information YOU want to look at.

Next I'll show you the chart I built for my own purposes and why I built it that way. Feel free to take this method and make it your own. It has been a great help in getting a birds eye view of my novel, and it might work well for yours too if it's something you need during editing.

And there it is! In all its color coded glory (click the photos to enlarge)! So here's the lowdown:

Column A is the scene code. The first number is the act, the second number is the chapter number, and the third number (if necessary) is for if I need to break down the chapter into individual scenes. For example, chapter eight has two separate scenes. It's located in act two so it is given the code 2.8.1. and 2.8.2. and you can bet your bottom I've put this code at the start of each scene in my draft for easy searching in what is a 300+ page manuscript.

Column B is the date the scene takes place. I'm notorious for forgetting how long time has passed between scenes. This is a huge lifesaver as it makes you check for continuity in dates, times, weather, class schedule*, etc. at the start of every scene you edit.

*(Yes I did write out the class schedule for my fairy godmothers in training, and it's a block schedule so it changes depending on the day of the week.)

Column C is the slug line. This is a screenwriting term for a sentence that's included at the start of every scene in a screenplay which typically includes the time of day and location of the scene. A screenplay will also include whether the scene is inside or outside, but to me this seemed self explanatory from where the scene is set.

Column D is the goals of the protagonist for the scene. Before I started writing the novel, I wrote a character arc for Zelda using the 8 point character arc structure (found here). This column is where I keep track of that, as well as her reactions and actions as she gets involved with the subplots. The boxes are color coded so I can quickly see which main plot or subplot the scene is focused on.

Columns F and onward are the goals of secondary characters (i.e. Imogen and Specs) and plotlines for the subplots of the novel (i.e. Zelda's Magic Struggles). I'll make note in these columns what a character does in the scene or if they are just mentioned. This a great way to see how long it's been since you mentioned a character or a subplot. As you can see in column G, I haven't mentioned Specs in a while and I don't want the reader to forget about him, so I'll probably add him into chapter five where it makes sense for him to be in the scene.

As you can probably see from the silly nature of some of my comments in the spreadsheet, this doesn't have to be formal, but it should let you see what the goal is in every scene and it should keep you from losing plotlines and characters in the shuffle and chaos of drafting. That's it. If you have any questions, sound off in the comments.

Happy editing!

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, by Adelyn Sterling

the writer's life

The Writer Who Doubts

In the fall of 2013, a shiny-faced girl with stars in her eyes decided she wanted to write a novel. After all, she had written a small novel in 8th grade for a year-long class assignment. It was called a "masterpiece" but was essentially a poorly constructed "quest fantasy" that has hopefully been lost to the world at large. So, with visions grandeur in mind, the newly minted writer opened her word processor and began to write.

Little did she know that she wouldn't finish that novel. That at 35K words it would be shelved, perhaps never to see the light of day again. That girl was me.

Writing is a strange and curious thing that I have only started to endeavor to understand. There are times when I wish I had just picked up knitting. But life had other plans. Big plans. I'm currently working on my second full-length novel (third if we are counting the first unfinished one), and there comes a time, usually once the manuscript has become fairly large and clunky, when I start to doubt everything. Flying through the first 10K words is a glorious honeymoon stage where every word feels just right, but times will come when it takes great pains to get through each new plot point. And that struggle, I hesitate to say, makes me wonder if the whole novel was that great of an idea to begin with. One those days when writing just one sentence feels like a marathon, I start to wonder "Who am I to write this story?"

Writing is one of the hardest things I've ever done. When I started, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. As a writer, when most of the time it's just you and your computer, it's easy to get myopic about your writing – to think you are the only one out there who isn't getting anything done. But over the course of my short writing career I have read everything I could find on the craft and sought out the wisdom of other writers, and guess what, these times of struggle happen to all of them. I even see some of my favorite authors weeping and gnashing their teeth on twitter over tricky manuscripts. It isn't hard just for me, it's hard for everyone.

But this feeling, that burning question, "Who am I to write this story?" is my old friend Impostor Syndrome rearing its ugly, many horned head. Have you met Impostor Syndrome? Me and this particular beast are well acquainted. I still consider myself a new writer and am therefore prone to moments of doubt. My hope is that I can silence Impostor Syndrome in time, but for now the monster needs proper supervision so he doesn't chew on my shoes and potty in the house.

"Have you met Impostor Syndrome? Me and this particular beast are well acquainted."

When the doubt comes, when the words don't flow, it's easy to forget those first 10k words, the first spark of inspiration that made me decide that I didn't just simply want to write a story, but that I needed to write it. I hold onto that need, because writing is always hard, and there are characters and stories stuck inside me. They need to be let out whether they are written by an impostor or not. I'm not qualified to offer writing advice, but I simply leave you with my honest belief that everyone has a story to tell. Sometimes writing comes easy, and sometimes it doesn't, but the desire to share stories is hardwired into human nature. And if it is human nature to share stories, then there are no impostors (Unless you are a robot. Hopefully there aren't any sentient robots reading this post). So find a way that works for you to get the words on the page, because if it comes from the human experience, it is worth being written.