Novel Revisions

Do you have a novel stuffed in a drawer? Gathering dust on a shelf?

Novels do not write themselves. And unfortunately novels do not re-write themselves into polished, readable, and marketable manuscripts. I have at least six draft novels in house, all neatly arranged on the Writing Bookcase, a bookcase which is almost as high as the ceiling. And I promised myself after a summer of watching Battlestar Galatica and Firefly come September I would begin to work.

September is over and I have been working steadily on re-writing one of those novels to get it to the point where I am willing to shop or hunt for an agent. I want to fix the flaws before I send my manuscript off into the world. Here are some tips, tricks, and things I have learned along the way:

1. Carve out a dedicated period of time to write every day; make that dedicated time realistic for your life and schedule. My writing time is now between the hours of 900 p.m. and midnight. I work more than 40 hours a week, need to eat after work, I am not a morning person, and likely never will be, so nighttime is it.
2. Be consistent. Yes, I like to organize my sock drawer, read books, play with the cat, call a friend, and sleep. NO, I cannot do these things between 900 p.m. and midnight.
3. Be generous with yourself. Even an hour a day is a good day's work. A half hour a day is ok. All those half hours and hours will add up in the end.
4. Set a daily goal for revisions. Initially, I decided a chapter a night would be my goal, which was unrealistic. So it became half of a chapter every night.
5. Get feedback on your manuscript before you start revising, but be specific about soliciting feedback. I am lucky because I have family and friends who are readers, writers, and editors. I have 2 first readers at the moment, providing line by line edits on my draft manuscript. One is a friend who is professional editor, and the other is a familymember. Both are generous and kind; both love to read and write; my friend the editor loves YA fantasy so it is a good match; my family member is also a writer but of poetry; she is exacting in her reading tastes and has been systematic in her edits, ruthlessly eliminating the word that, which apparently I love so much I use the word least 2 or 3 times on every page.
6. Be generous with anyone willing to read your manuscript. Give your first readers a printed copy of your manuscript and buy them postage stamps so they can mail their edits back to you; buy them Indian food dinners and lattes. Wait patiently. They are doing you a HUGE favor. Never criticize their feedback. After all you can decide to accept or reject their edits.
7. Line by line edits from first readers make a great road map, but not the only one. If you do not have family and friends who would be willing to read your draft and provide feedback, then share manuscript with a critique group, and if you do not yet have such a group, get one. A critique group can offer you opinions on thorny problems (e.g., should I use a prologue or not?)
8. Have a notebook of problems and issues in your manuscript. I call my notebooks blue books and I jot everything down which needs some fixing. I write by hand in my blue books. Examples: Chapt. 14, page xxx, how many villagers total? Also, write about Z's experience. Or, Chapt. 14, page xxx, D versus d. Dreamworld ok, but Dreamer, Dream, Dreaming? These notes are cryptic, but that is my point. You know what the problems are in your manuscript, but having a log or record of them-page by page-is an invaluable tool. I also use my blue books as a brain dump, where I throw thoughts and musings about the manuscript down on paper, so I do not mess with the manuscript as I am revising it.
9. Keep your back stories in a separate location and use them only sparingly in your manuscript. I am going to start revising the second manuscript this month; the first fifty pages of manuscript #2 are back story on a character I like a lot. But the back story has got to go: I am going to cut those pages, save them elsewhere, and move on with the revisions.
10. Make decisions. This is the final and most important point. Maybe you know exactly what you want to say and how you want to say. Maybe your manuscript is perfect. If so, then congratulations! You do not need to read this article. I, however, have to decide whether or not to use the prologue, whether I should capitalize the letter d every time I use it in the words dreamer, dreaming, and dream. I need to decide if my main character Z should be active in the scene in Chapter 14. (The answer is Yes, he should.) Re-writing is decision making in action.

Remember, this is work but can be thrilling. Writing a novel is like sailing solo across the ocean. Revising a novel is like sailing solo across the ocean a second time: you know what to do, but you would foolish not take charts, GPS, radio, food, water, sailing lessons, life vest, repair gear, etc. And of course, there are as many ways to revise a novel as there to write one. Good luck!

SCBWI Conference Reflections - Correction

Quick update on the "SCBWI Reflections" I posted on Sunday 5/17: my writer friend, Amanda, recently got a comment on her blog, literallyhumann.blogspot.com from literary agent Michael Stearns, who said he wanted to "squash the rumor before it gained any traction."

The rumor is that Mr. Stearns "likes" lists. Not true. Mr. Stearns can appreciate a good list, but he is not actively looking for them.

And so I wanted to correct my own 5/17 post on echoarna.blogspot.com. Why does this matter? Agents are inundated with queries from writers, so it's better to be clear about what they want AND they don't want. We writers can run with an offhand comment made at a conference and end up in Bhutan, apparently. (Someday I'll get to Bhutan, but not via misunderstanding an agent's preferences for submissions.)

To read Mr. Stearns own blog, see http://astheworldstearns.wordpress.com/.

American Idol - And the Winner Is...

...No, I'm not kidding, but let me explain. The winner is Kris Allen, the "dark horse" contestant, who looks and sings like a skinny teddy bear. He is skinny, with bigish ears, and his voice is kind of fuzzy too, not in a bad way but it has a bit of raspy burr in it.

Yes, I started out this year by following American Idol. It sounds like a confession because Dumb TV is like buying a "People" magazine, something that generates a little bit of shame in me. Writers are supposed to write from 8 or 9 until midnight on weeknights, even after a Very Busy Day at work. But there I was curled up watching a snowy screen, after dinner, angling the antenna just so. Does everyone have the same kind of interest in witnessing a dream come true? Is this that why the show is so popular?

Here is my secret: when it gets boring I imagine the contestants as animals.

Guess what animal Adam Lambert is in my writer brain? Yep, an Orca Whale, one who is capable of flying leaps, dines on seals, and has accentuated eyes. Had I been of the voting kind, I would have gone with the Orca, in spite of the theatrical overblown style he had at times. I always liked listening and watching him perform because he had no fear of the stage, made me expect the unexpected from him, and god, what a voice.

But 100,000 million voted (100,000 million people!) and the preference was for a teddy bear. It doesn't matter in the end. They will both have careers to watch out for. And for those of us who sing only on the freeway when driving alone and even then it sounds scary, there is something inspiring by watching a person get up and sing his heart out in front of millions in a competition with an uncertain outcome, and still sound like a pro, stuffed animal or killer whale aside. Kudos to them both.

Post SCBWI Conference Reflections

This'll be a list, because I think all conference attendees are still digesting two full days of information. My brain is busy with ideas and goals, but here are the first little snippets and impressions:

• The agent who spent years being an editor likes lists = Michael Stearns.
• The editor who announced that she like books about dead animals later told everyone she's acquired a book about a talking pig = Connie Hsu.
• I discovered Ellen Hopkin's prose verse books = Where the hell have I been?
• Many business cards from the people that I was delighted to meet and greet = I've updated links to "Network of Writers" with new blogs and websites. Note: I expect this list to grow, so I am only listing you in this category if you define yourself as a writer or editor; I'm also adding the author of the book that most recently kept me up past midnight (E. Hopkins).
• There's a new Six Degrees of Separation experiment for those of us children's writers who live in the Pacific Northwest = instead of Kevin Bacon, switch that to Peggy King Anderson.
• Please no books about merfolk = mermaids and mermen are not the new vampires.
• BTW: vampires are over, which means that none of us will become the new Stephanie Meyer = That said, expect parodies on vampires in print soon.
• Writers who really take their time to research the agent or editor before submitting = success.
• Success comes in all shapes and sizes = it is about your readers and the impact that you have on them.
• Write from the ...even if you are science geek like me.

All in all, a great learning experience, as always. More details to follow in the coming week.

Count down to SCBWI Conference

SCBWI stands for the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators. Say that name twenty times fast. And it's not about monsters, either. If you are interested in writing books for very young children, middle grade readers, young adults, or adult nerds (like me), SCBWI is an international organization that welcomes the novice and nutures the pro.

I am somewhere on the long road, traveling from the complete beginner to the published author. Three years ago, I joined SCBWI Western Washington. (Website is http://scbwi-washington.org/.) I got into my first conference from the wait-list, read through the materials at the last minute, took a big pad of paper and pen, swallowed my fear of strangers and went, wide-eyed and overwhelmed.

It was fabulous and grueling all at once. Two full days of information overload. Who knew that there were that many children's writers and illustrators in the Seattle area? The conference room was filled with 300 to 400 people; acronyms flew through the air like bits of binary data on wireless super-highways. Attending the conference was like learning a new language. Bruce Coville's keynote speech made me cry because he was so generous anyone willing to call herself a writer. He is the kind of human being I want to be when I grow up. See his website at http://www.brucecoville.com/ for more information on his amazing career.

And oh I was envious of the People Who Knew Other People, those writers who greeted each other like the long lost friends or at least people who liked each other a lot and had not seen each other in months.

Fast forward to this year: I have a writing buddy that I met at that first conference. Since then we've become great friends, starting our own critique group that is currently meeting monthly. We're also both exploring-- separately from each other--other critique groups because feedback is now essential to the process of making work publishable. I'm thinking about joining the Pacific Northwest Writers Association because I also write in adult genres. See their website at http://www.pnwa.org/.

Now my worries are specific and concrete: should I use the business cards I made last year, or do I have enough time to revamp them to include my blog address? Will the editor who is consulting on the first five pages of my manuscript have tangible advice, suggestions which I can use to make The Odyssey of Zomas better? And then there are all my self-imposed deadlines of the breed, "I am going finish the latest re-write of Zomas by conference time," that will expire. For example, I am still working on the short story The Stone Fields, weaving in feedback from about a dozen people. Everyone says it's a novel. Call it denial but I want to achieve a sellable piece of less than 5,000 words. So I am slugging away, like I'm cutting and triming an overgrown garden with a pair of fingernail clippers. (Next post: Ruyard Kiplings' advice, "Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh how beautiful' and sitting in the shade.")

I will be in good company at the conference: there are hundreds of us out there with the same affiliction, each person writing because she has something to say. Becoming one with one's computer in a cafe is an activity I love beyond measure. Being alone is not. And so after three years going to the SCBWI conferences I now have a writing best friend, a critique group, the ability to bump into other writers on elevators and start conversations, and as always, my writing time, with pizza...or is that a pancake?

Post Script:

The picture to the right is taken from another blogger''s post. The blogger is Devon DeLapp, in Los Angeles, and the entry is entitled, "Writing at the Insomnia Cafe," found at http://www.devondelapp.com/weblog/?entry=254004.

The Short Story - Why and Where Ideas Come From...

There are many books that have left a permanent mark on me, but I want to write about two of them specifically: both have lasting power and I have been struggling with the thematic lines of their intersection. That struggle has resulted in a short story that I am tentatively calling, "The Stone Fields" or alternately, "The Lumen."

Can one borrow a title? I am not sure, and I have asked everyone I know, my father, my mother, my friends, co-workers, writing partner, critique group members, writing teacher; the answer seems to be yes. But still I have lingering doubt.

The Stone Fields is actually a published book, a non-fiction work, by Courtney Angela Brkic, a first generation Croatian American like me. There the similarity ends: she went—at the tender of age of 23—to Bosnia in 1996 to work as a forensic archeologist for the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague and Physicians for Human Rights. She dug in dirt, arranged personal effect for photographing from the graves of people massacred during the war. The most telling thing for me in her book was the realization of fear. She felt threatened because she was a Croat, and at one point she wondered if the workers who were helping the team were the same men who may have assisted in the massacre in the first place.

If you would like a summary of the war and The Stone Fields read the 2004 Washington Post article by Jonathan Yardley at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44089-2004Aug5.html.

Another resource is an interview with Ms. Brkic found at http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum159.php, a regularly published online literary magazine. (Main page is at http://www.identitytheory.com/ )

I love my Croatian heritage, but I hate it too. I have not made peace with my piece-meal language skills. I lived there, in Split, a big city along the Adriatic Coast, before the war. That is now at least twenty five years ago. Some of my earlier memories from when I was six and thirteen are golden: they have that quality of a fable. The time that my cousin threw our metal silverware and dishes into the sea to wash them, we went snorkeling to retrieve things for our next meal; the dust of the late afternoon and the sound of pigeons; the pale pink of dawn….

Now, when I speak Hrvatski, I sound like some deluded six-year old who has never really learned any sense of grammar. My father winces while I talk, so I don’t speak to him, except in English. And yet…I struggle with my history daily, the fact that I was born here, in America. I long to understand, to know…. but I suspect that I don’t want to know, not really. What. Happened. There. I am not as brave as Ms. Brkic.

Her book, a lyrical and harsh account of the reality of family history and genocide, gave me the idea of an apocalyptic graveyard, the stone fields that represent mass death, where a young girl, only thirteen years old goes to hunt souls, in the far and distance future.

This leads me to the second book, Beyond the Sky and the Earth, by Jamie Zeppa. This is a book that is on my “bible shelf,” a must read at least once every year. It is about coming to understand Bhutan, a small Buddhist country, where Ms. Zeppa went in 1988 to teach English. It is a story of her clash and acceptance of the culture, and all the empty space between; finally it is a story of two people, Jamie and Tshewang, who manage to bridge that gap—for a time at least.

One line, a simple sentence, still echoes in my brain, “He listens and then from inside his gho, he pulls out small presents: a feather, a picture of white Tara, a mango, definitions copied neatly onto pieces of paper: aleatory—depending on random choice, a lumen is a unit of flux of light; infrangible—unbreakable.” (Page 255)

Many people keep a list of words to learn a language. But I love this particular list. And the definition of a lumen, a flux of light, is what rivets me. A soul, I think, the answer to death, the thing that lives on; no matter the horror, or trauma or massacre.

Can one excavate souls, I wonder?

In the summer of 2008, after reading both The Stone Fields for the first time and re-reading Beyond the Sky and the Earth, I write a short story to find out.

And then the re-writing begins. It’s been almost a year now, and I'm told by friends near and dear, critique group members, or even fellow classmates, that I have "started a novel."

This distresses me; I don’t want another novel. I have five of them on my shelf already, waiting patiently for me at nine p.m. every night, and most nights I ignore them.

But now after a critique group meeting today, I realize what I have started cannot be undone. I must continue my work on the “short story” (regardless of its title). I need to know its end.

Snow Geese in Spring

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1509319618?bctid=18428658001

This is what happens when you wake up at 4:30 in the morning, after only about 5 hours of sleep:

• You actually do something that sort of resembles YOGA, although calling it that seems like shouting somehow, and shouting is not an option seeing as all the world is asleep, dreaming, and as you have a very nice downstairs neighbor.
• You take a long shower.
• Shave your legs (if you're a girl or a guy who likes smooth legs, I guess.)
• You hit the switch of the coffee machine because you prepped it last night.
• Then you eat leftover Sunday breakfast, omelette, bacon, and some toast.
• Working your way methodically through 3 cups of coffee, and facing the blue glow of the computer screen, you start checking out video from the Seattle Times.

This leads you to Snow Geese. Massive bird migration and honking sound of hundreds. What combination is that racket: an A, a G, a C? Add a T and you get nucleobases, the stuff of DNA and RNA.

From my favorite Wikipedia: "Nucleobases (or nucleotide bases) are the parts of DNA and RNA that may be involved in pairing (see also base pairs). The main ones are cytosine, guanine, adenine (DNA and RNA), thymine (DNA) and uracil (RNA), abbreviated as C, G, A, T, and U, respectively. They are usually simply called bases in genetics. Because A, G, C, and T appear in the DNA, these molecules are called DNA-bases; A, G, C, and U are called RNA-bases."

Is it just genetics, a series of base pairs, a series of notes in all cells, that prompts those birds to take flight en mass? They are like schools of fishes in the air, a whirling dervish of wings, and a mess noise and bird poop (apparently green, don't you know.)

It's spring, perhaps why I'm awake way too early, but inexplicably thinking of winter, ice, firey nights, and Siberian Snow Geese.