Fun with Community Terms

Have you ever just stopped to look up what term is used for a group of something?

A flock of birds. A pride of lions. A murder of crows. A gaggle of geese.

It was something that got me thinking. What would a group of writers be considered? I tossed a few ideas around in my head.

A pen of writers? Naw, sounds too much like we’d be in a kennel like dogs.

A book of writers? Yeah, I’m so not a stamp.

A page of writers? A sheet of writers? An ink of writers?

Nothing really caught me in a positive spin. No, the best one that always seemed to work for me is this:

A Community of Writers.

Of course, this assumes that the group of writers is cooperating with each other. It assumes that a connection exists among the writers, beyond that simple occupation.

In my last post, I spoke of creating a Writers’ Support Group. This would be part of what, to me, creates a community of writers. There will always be outliers with regard to any group. Some will feel above the need for a group. They’re “better” than the rabble. Others will just come from too weird an angle for the community to willingly accept them. I’ve found this rare among writers, however, because we are all outliers of the weird persuasion to those who do not write.

There are other things that make up community, though, aren’t there? Support is great, but we need more. We need connections. Genre creates connections. Kinda. It also creates divisions and cliques. Something that writers already do naturally, is create divisions because we have to work through stereotypes to get to true character. A common location would be nice for writers creating a community. Some have a town or city or county to act as their common location. Others find that commonality in an online forum.

As a writer, I suggest looking around to find a community that works best for you. Let us know what makes a good community for you.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Progress” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

How Sketchy is Your Character?

There are some things to consider when dealing with characters. Much as we writers hate dealing with negative reviews, some of them will contain useful information. The character of course will dictate a lot of how someone feels about the story they read. So we need to understand our character as best we can.

To learn about the character, many books and blogs offer many techniques, many ideas for what to do.

A few examples I’ve found: The character interview, the character back story, and the character information sheet. All of these are examples of character sketches. They all give details to the writer about the character without actually putting it all into the story.

Each technique offers a different perspective to the character, just as each name implies.

The character interview is supposed to be exactly as it sounds. You’re seated with the character and asking them questions to learn about them. These can be as simple as “What’s your name?” to as complex as “A gun is pointed at you and your love interest, while a bomb ticks time away. Tell me how’d you react.”

The character back story is literally writing the story of the character up until you reach the story you’re going to write. It is an extensive writing project, sometimes spanning five to ten times the length of the final work. I actually knew a writer who wrote three 20-page back stories, one for each character, for characters of a simple 2000 word short story. It was how this writer worked, so I couldn’t fault them for the time invested in the work they created.

The character information sheet is something that comes from the realm of the gamer, though I’m sure it comes from a lot farther back than that. Modern sheets hold blocks on information, sorted by category. Basics like name, age, gender, and unchanging physical characteristics comprise one block. Information about clothing choice, political orientation, or other shifting details might go into the next block. Depending on the sheet chosen, these can be anywhere from one to fifteen pages of details.

Personally, I use the character sheet style, because I started my writing from the world of Dungeons and Dragons™. My sheet is a custom creation, to give me the access to the best details of what I feel need to exist in the story. And like my writing and my world view, it keeps being modified to better gather the details I want to present.

Nothing says you have to follow the same procedure for each story. What worked for story one might not work for story two. As I illustrated above, this sketching doesn’t necessarily have to appear in the final work either.

This comes to a point where I have to say – Do what works best for your technique.


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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Character Sketches” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Numbers and their ilk

The time has come that you’re now writing regularly. Perhaps you chose to have multiple ideas running at one time, perhaps you didn’t. Things feel good, feel strong.  Sitting to write has that feeling of flow. When you complete a writing session, you feel accomplished. That is, until someone asks you a question.

“How much did you write?”

Wow. Way to burst our happy bubble, person! They don’t want a vague concept of accomplishment. They want an actual, measureable number. The question begs for a goal or milestone that you can point to and crow about regularly. A piece of concrete floating in the ether.

Don’t panic. We can deal with this.

First, we have to go back and explore what we established as our goal. We sat at a campfire and discussed that last year. You don’t remember? Let me refresh your memory. You’ll want to have a way you personally can find that feeling of accomplishment. This could be as simple as counting pages, lines, or words. Something that makes sense.

Next, we need a way to calculate the progress. Almost any computer these days contains some form of spreadsheet capability. If not, you can find a free one on the web. Each word processor offers a way to get a count of the words within a document. With these two items, we can get what we are writing and massage those numbers into something anyone can understand. So when someone asks, “How much” we can answer with however we determined our goal to sound.

This actually does offer an additional advantage to the process. Now that we are tracking our writing, we can determine if our pace will allow completion of the project before the end of the week, month, year, or millennium. It creates a vague sense of direction, which we’d need to add to our plot and characters.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Progress” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

The Pattern leads to the Matrix…

Okay, so I’m being a little goofy with my title today. However, I’m trying to make a point with it.  The big thing the machines tried to build into the Matrix was an easily followed routine, a pattern that they could control.  The biggest thing that broke their routine was human free will, which didn’t always follow the most logical of patterns, the most logical of routines.

What on earth am I talking about with this post and how does it relate back to writing?

Everyone enjoys a routine of some form. From the same wake up time every day to the same bed time every day, we establish routines in our lives. So it is with our writing lives.  We follow the same path to the keyboard or the pad of paper every time we chose to approach our writing.

If this routine is disrupted for any reason, we find ourselves out of sorts.

This disruption could be something simple like we don’t have our glass of caffeine beside us when we sit to write because we ran out. Now we just don’t feel the draw to the written word like we usually do.

The disruption could be something notably major, like a family member in the hospital or the loss of the laptop. Having to be on the road when we normally write or worse not having our usual composing medium sets our teeth on edge. The ability to create hides from us.

Okay, so how do we go about fixing it?

Some things are simple fixes. Buy what you’re missing and your routine resets.

Others require more surgery to your daily routine to reestablish the pattern you need to find your writing spirit.

Let me offer an example from my own life.

My mom was recently admitted to the hospital due to unknown reasons. The doctors are still running tests. In her lucid state, my mom made me her point of contact for the hospital should she become unable to make medical decisions.  I’m now having to drive 40 miles one way to get to the hospital to talk to doctors. My usual writing routine is shot as long as I have to deal with tracking down medical professionals. Added to this stress, my laptop power adapter broke so I can’t charge it right now. That was my primary composition tool. Fortunately, all my writing is backed up on flash drives, but I just can’t bring myself to sit and write at one of our big computers in the house.

My fixes haven’t been pretty, but they have done the job for now.  My writing time shifted from week nights and weekends to week days at lunch. I have less time to do the work, but I still have time to get it done. As for the actual writing act, I am falling back to my old pattern I did before  had a reliable laptop. I write by hand then transcribe the work into the computer. It seems like double work to do that, but it also allows me to edit it some as I enter it, so it reads cleaner.

So remember, a routine is an important part of a writer’s life. Finding one that works is your friend, but finding ways to work around routine disruptions shows your creative skills.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Routines” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Respect the Block

Recently, I have reached a new respect for people suffering from writer’s block. In fact, I created a new description for myself because of it:

Staring at the wall with a pen in my hand and nowhere to write

This could be seen in a few different ways.

First, the idea is there, but the person has no way to record the idea. I’ve come across this problem when driving to my bill paying job. Some great concept will jump into my thoughts past the radio, the idiot drivers, and other issues. My cell phone doesn’t have a voice record function and I can’t type on that tiny keyboard while trying to guide a behemoth along the roads. I could get a recorder, but the funds just aren’t there, yet. Worse, someone cuts me off and the idea disappears as I throw curses against the glass.

Yeah, so not a good thing.

Another way to see this is the image that there is something between the writer and the proper writing surface. Sure, one could write directly on the wall. But that isn’t where the writer WANTS to place the words. Perhaps because the wall surface is not flat enough for the pen. Or perhaps because the ink from the pen won’t show on the wall. No matter what the reason, the wall just won’t work. In this case, the wall becomes a metaphor for something in your life that disturbs your writing. A broken routine, a medical emergency of your own or that of your family, anything that blocks you from reaching the writing surface. For me, a series of family medical emergencies have created havoc in my writing time, in my routine.

Still not a good thing.

The final way to see this image is that fear has frozen the writer in place, so they couldn’t write no matter what they tried. This style block is the hardest to break because it comes from something inside that must be repaired before one can advance.  I can honestly say that fear of failure catches my hand on many occasions.

Finding your way past the wall for many of these examples becomes finding what prevents the writing from happening. Getting a recorder, a pad of paper, something to jot notes at any time fixes the first one. The second can recover by redoing the schedule to include writing time and sticking to it.

The last example is hardest to find a way to fix because it differs for every writer. For some, it is the fear of rejection, or failure, or completion. Yes, fear of completion has been known to stop some writers from writing, because they don’t know if they’ll have anything else to write once the project is complete.

My best advice for fixing a block is seek what causes it. The root of the wall will bring it down faster than trying to take it apart brick by brick.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Writer’s Block” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Knowing where you’ve been - Firsts

I’ve spoken about a few things when I’ve written about tracking.  I’ve frequently keep my writing brain pointed forward, directed toward the goal I want to reach.  Every once in a while, however, it’s fun to look back and find where you’ve been, see how things have changed.

For that fun, I thought I’d list a few of my firsts.

Not going to bother with first words written, because I couldn’t narrow it down enough to be useful.

First completed fan fiction - Silly quest story I did for 10th grade english.  Don’t think I still have a copy, but it was an homage to Piers Anthony’s Xanth series.

First completed story - 1995 - “Called Home” - a story of death and loss.  It showed a bit of a spiritual side which hasn’t appeared in my writing of late.

First Rejection - 1996 - For “Called Home,” from the magazine Story, which is no longer being published.  After receiving this reject, I waited years before I got the guts to start sending out again.  Comments that I wrote Star Trek fan fiction didn’t help my confidence much either.

First 200K words - 2006
First 500K words - 2009

First acceptance - 2011 - “The Sinking of Gustav” was published by Connections Magazine, which is published by a local community college.  No pay, but recognition.

First completed novel - Um, yeah, not reached that milestone yet.  I’m about 20k words left to reach this milestone.

So what firsts have you reached?

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Firsts” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Seminar - Building a yearly catalog

We’ve returned to one of my favorite locales.  Everyone has a front row seat.  So come in and take a seat, so we can get started. 

Today, we’re going to discuss building a catalog for the year. 

Some writers won’t follow this because they work as the ideas strike.  That’s fine.  They can use this is a different manner, as they gather their completed work from the previous year to ready for submission.

Here’s the thing.  At the beginning of the year, we are all charged and ready to write.  Those darn new year resolutions have our plans percolating, our thoughts focused.  So now is when we need to create the base of our year’s plan.

If you’ve at least been scribbling ideas down as they come to you (or recording them into a voice recorder) you’ll have a starting point.  The idea is to gather what ideas you have, create a list, then determine which ones work and can be expanded.  Here, let me show you an idea of what I mean:

 - Police stumble across old 1947 mob tunnels under DC
 - Zombie mall attack
 - Shuttle drawn toward black hole
 - College nude model finds clothing missing
 - Novel series based around bible quotes

This is just a small sample of the ideas that came to me just through December.  (And I do mean a SMALL sample.)  Obviously, some will have more traction than others.  The nude model missing clothes will be trapped in a small area.  A shuttle drawn toward a black hole won’t survive the trip without a little deus ex machina.  That narrows my list to the mob tunnels, a novel series (which is an extended project) and the zombies at the mall.  One might require some research (was the mob even around DC in 1947, for instance) but all offer a good vague starting point.

Since I’m someone who has several projects going at once, I’ll take one from this narrowed list to add to my running projects.  For other authors, they might be selecting their first project for the new year, having strove to finish all their open projects from the previous year.  Either way, it gives a great starting point.

Now, I mentioned that this works for completed works as well.  Let me explain.

Once a project is written, it’s not done.  It still needs editing passes, beta readers, and grammar checks before you can release it to a publisher.  So you’d create a similar list as you had with the story ideas, only here you can place a bit more notes.  (Personally, I use a spreadsheet for this, but your mileage always varies.)  Something like this:

 - Bird war at the beach      (1st draft, editing pass 2)
 - Haunted Guard               (2nd draft, 2 beta reads, editing pass 5)
 - Valentine’s Day             (final draft, beta reads done, needs final pass)
 - Sinking of Gustav           (Published!)

With my spreadsheet, the items in the parenthesis are placed in separate columns.  In this case, I’ve placed a temporary title with the story, rather than a concept.  You need to do whatever works for your concept. 

The whole idea behind this concept is to organize your writing so you have a good visual idea of what you need to do, or what you’ve achieved so far.  A nice things about this list is it doesn’t have to remain static.  Each new idea can be added to the bottom.  Completed items can move between the two lists. 

So here is my suggestion:
- create a list of your ideas as they come to you.
- create a list of working projects
- create a list of completed projects

Use these lists as a guide to what you anticipate as your next big step.

So what have I missed?

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Anticipation” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Favorite book in 2012

I am willing to admit that I'm a slow reader. So when someone asks me "What's your favorite book this year," I have a short list to pick from. In fact, this year, the list is only 11 books long. (12 if I can finish one before the end of the month.)

Yes, I'm major behind on the "trends" because I take so long to read.

This is why when I can claim best of the year from my reading, it is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I'm going to copy the review I wrote on Librarything for the sake of saving my typing fingers:


I can honestly say this is another book that rates high on my recommend list. It comes across as a brutal story exploring Katniss's experiences through the Hunger Games, held in the Capitol of Panem each year. The writing flows easily and would allow one to flow through it with little effort. Just when you think that the author is going to slow the pace, she adds a new twist. I found it difficult to put down, almost overwhelmingly buried in the world.
While the ending came across as honest and well thought, it felt disappointing when compared with the rest of the book. One story line just ended. In a way, I'm anxious to get to the sequel, so I can see where that storyline goes...


Because I'm a slow reader, I'm also slower to pick up on the reading trends. I didn't start reading Harry Potter until book 4. I read through the entire series, grew disappointed in book 6 and struggled with book 7. (Blasphemous. I know.)

You might wonder, why do you take so long to read a book?

This comes from me taking in multiple concepts while reading one paragraph. It isn't just words on a page to me. It's the theme and story, the construction and flow, the feel and mood... Things writers look to create and things the reader enjoys. Even when reading for pleasure, I'm looking for things to translate into my own writing.

So perhaps in 2013, my list will be longer, but perhaps not.
Happy New Era! Merry Christmas! Happy Yule!
And a Wonderful new year!
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Today's post was inspired by the topic “My favorite book of 2012” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/
If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

The Sampson of Details

Frequently, we speak of a writer’s strengths. When a person reads our writing, they speak of how great a certain aspect of the writing spoke to them, be it the dialogue, the description, the action. It comes up when we discuss our writing with our fellow writers.

This is also one reason why I say no two writers are traveling the same journey. Everyone has a different vantage point on what they feel is good or bad, what they see as a strength and what is a weakness. We can even look at recent writings and find that fact. Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series becomes my great example. There is a split opinion of the series. People either love the intricate details (strength) or they feel it interferes with the pace of the book (weakness). The character’s consistency when reacting to stress gets praise and criticism, because at one point, a character becomes a cardboard cutout because that is her reaction to everything.

But how do we know what our strength is?

Our first step is to become prolific writers. The more we have in some written form, the more we can look at and compare to find our strengths and weaknesses. When we have one story, we have very little from which to draw our conclusions. People can’t declare Stephen King among the masters of suspense based on one book (though they tried). No, it took six, or for some people over ten, to make that call.

The second step is allowing others to peruse our prolific library of output, so they can help us locate our weaknesses. Good critiques will also praise your work, finding turns of phrase or whole paragraphs that sang to their senses. What I like to do, with each critique, is I make a list of the positive statements and the negative comments. When you have multiple people looking, it makes the list much better.

The third and final step takes us back to some of our early writing, reviewing it, and poking holes in our problems. Once we do that, we can review recent writings, to find if we continue with the same problem or if we’ve grown beyond it. Sometimes, you’ll find a different error crop up when you fix the first. Other times, it will just read as a better piece.

It’s definitely a good idea to explore your strengths, so that you can gain your Sampson writing muscles.


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Today's post was inspired by the topic “My Strengths as a writer” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

A Writer from Any Stripe

As I read through some of the other posts from the Merry Go Round tour, I note a trend. Many of them wanted to write from an early age. They made up stories and tried to write them as youngsters.

I can say part of that is true for me. I made up stories but I never bothered trying to write them. Sure, I had the Car Wars going in my bedroom, or the fire emergency with my trucks. Those I saw as mine, my play time.

It wasn’t until I reached high school that something about writing really started to grab me. That started with a simple assignment, where I copied my favorite author at the time. Parody and Satire weren’t my strong suit, as became apparent from that project. My writing slacked until the following school year, when a teacher assigned us a daily journal entry for English class. She held no requirement on what the entry had to be, so I could write a paragraph of story each day. It rambled and didn’t go very far, but it was story.

My creative endeavors stopped for about three years, until I got to a composition class in college. There, I had a professor who did both the freshman comp class and the creative writing class. It helped that he sometimes crossed his curriculum between the two classes. He gave us a writing prompt at the beginning of class, challenged us to write a paragraph based on the prompt. My writing impressed him enough that he wanted me to write more. After class, I found a way to expand the story, but when I went to talk to the professor before the next class, I discovered he’d died in a car accident the previous day.

That day was when I truly started writing.

I spent about five years with the semiserious thought process working toward a couple stories, but nothing concrete. I’d completed the story started in class, but it never went anywhere. Refocused in 2000, but continued with the “I write when the muse strikes” commentary. So it was spotty. I finally took my writing seriously in 2005, when I entered my first National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo).

That is my path. I’d love to hear the path of others when it comes to why they write!

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Why I became a writer” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Balance in the writer's life - What's that?

Back in June, I was supposed to write this post about finding balance within a writer's life for the Merry Go Round tour.

Here's the problem. I haven't found it yet.

So if and when someone finds a good solution, let me know!

Seriously, a lot of this is about scheduling, and knowing what you want to do.

If writing is just a hobby, it doesn't hold a high priority, so the scheduling remains low on the list and it fits in where you feel like it. If writing holds a higher calling, then it shows up on the schedule accordingly.

As my example, my writing shows up on the schedule 183 times a year. It's a priority every odd numbered day. Even days are for reading. This was the best compromise I could work out to get writing regularly on my schedule and not lose other desired activities.

Check your schedule, find where you fit your writing and ask if it fits where you want it to go.

You want that when?!?!?

I’ve touched on the subject of deadlines before, but it was a small mention, and the tour brought it up as a topic, so it is a good time to address some things.

First, I must talk to the new writer. Technically, until the contract is signed and in hand, you’re deadline free. Write when you want, what you want, how you want. Please. Enjoy that freedom. However, also realize that, in order to realize the dream of publication, you’ll need to establish habits and schedules to discipline yourself once that contract arrives.

I kinda miss the days of no deadlines.

No, I haven’t scored a contract with a publisher. However, I have decided to establish for myself deadlines of what I want done. Mostly, I created word count deadlines. These I also call “Goals.”

Let me see if I can work this as a sports metaphor to help you understand my position.

Think about the game of soccer. The ball is your writing. Your team consists of other writers helping you complete your writing, your editors, and your readers trying to make the best book possible. The defending team consists of excuses not to write, your other obligations, and of course life (that’s the goalie). If you think of making your deadline as scoring a goal, then we have a good concept going.

It doesn’t quite start at center field, however.

Instead, you’re starting by the opposite end of the field. There is only one goal on this field. You’re trying to reach it. The size of your team and the size of the defense depend on you and your needs. I would suggest that your team have at least four people on it beside yourself. These would include an early reader who helps you edit, a fellow writer for the support and more editing help, your agent (if and) when you get one, and your publisher.

To add to that metaphor, consider that when you have an actual contract, suddenly you now have a timer attached to your soccer game. The goal must be scored before the timer reaches zero. Some writers might consider that an additional defender on the field. To me, that final destination is my cheerleader, urging me on, around the obstacles in my path.

It’s all in the perspective.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Deadlines” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Working with Influences

If there is one thing that every writer encourages new writers to do, it’s read. Be as prolific a reader as you are a writer. Yes, they are serious.

I have heard comments from people saying that they can’t read in the genre that they are writing, because they’re afraid they’ll start writing in the style of the author they’re reading. One even went so far as to tell me that they can’t read while they write.

The first comment I usually nod and ask if they ever imitated their favorite singer in the mirror or if they played air guitar to their favorite song. In public, this is denied vehemently. If it’s a private one on one conversation, I’ll get reluctant admissions. From this, I will offer the clichéd comment that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Then I will remark we need to look at their work to see why they feel their style needs a boost. Sometimes, it is author self-doubt. They don’t think their writing is good enough on its own, so they use someone else’s style. Other times, it is a difficulty separating the reading mind from the writing mind. Being an avid reader, which was what led me to being a writer, I understand the difficulty breaking between the two. It takes discipline and practice (yup, that ugly word again) but it can be done.

The second comment brought a different response from me. This writer said they wrote for three hours every day.  I’d like to ask how they keep up with their genre’s trends if they never schedule any time to read, when they say things are more difficult. The project never left their mind for long, even when they left the desk or computer. So if they read a book, that book would then join the present project and thus break their plot.

Just as the first part requires discipline, so does this situation. Your body can be trained to certain stimuli and trigger reactions. If you’ve taken any behavioral science class (psychology, sociology) you’ll remember Pavlov’s Dog and his experiments with the treats. I’m not suggesting that writers are dogs. No, what I’m offering is a thought, a possibility.

If I write X number of words, I can read a book. This way, the influence has a full day to work through the story and maybe work its way out of the story again.

Better yet, it might offer you a plot twist you’d not considered before and improve your writing.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “My Influences” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

The Write Place

Early on, I mentioned finding a place to write. I never addressed it fully, because it is a very personal issue.
          
Let’s dig a little deeper into what makes a good writing space.
    
Power or Manual
    
For some people, they can only write with the keyboard and light of the monitor. Give them pen and paper to watch them squirm with writer’s block. It’s an unpleasant view, let me say. Others work best with the pen, only to transcribe from paper to computer as their first edit pass.
    
Personally, I’m a cross between the two. I can compose on either computer or paper. I prefer to edit on paper, and transcribe those edits when complete.
    
Find your best technique to get the most from your writing time. You’re best place to write will be affected by this.
    
Noise Factor
    
Something that’s loosely linked to the power issue is noise. When I say noise here, I don’t mean just the cars racing by on the street, the kids fighting in the living room, or the neighbors having a punch out on their front lawn. I refer to all sounds that might effect your writing environment. This includes music and television. I know writers who can’t work unless the room is absolutely silent. They’ve soundproofed a space for their writing. Others sit in busy restaurants with their laptops, sipping coffee and tapping away on their work. Some people need instrumental music, but not music with lyrics.
    
For me, I can work nearly anywhere. Music can have lyrics or not. Sometimes, I’ll put an inspirational movie in to play while I write. Others times, I’m just me and my chosen writing medium of the day.
    
It has to create a space where your mind can work.
Interruptions and Distractions
         
Final thought about your best writing spot – How well does it prevent or accommodate possible interruptions or distractions? Obviously, this goes above and beyond just the basics of noise. Can the kids come drag you away to play tea party or house? Will the spouse talk to you while cooking, and keep you from writing? If your favorite sports team scores, will you stop to cheer? (Guilty party here.)
      
I’m not suggesting that your writing room need to be a sealed space, sound proofed, with a steel door knocker. Not unless that is what you find the most productive.
     


Today's post was inspired by the topic “My favorite writing place” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.
    
Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/
    
If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com

Court of the King of Excuses

Step up. Step up! The king is accepting applicants today for excuses. The only thing we need is an occupation.
   
Writer, huh? We seem to get a lot of your lot.
   
Oh, those people clustered to the king’s right? They’re the debunkers. They stand in judgment of the excuses offered, to make sure they pass through the crap detector of most people. Our king holds his position because he can get past them ninety times out of one hundred. We’ve had people try their hand at excuses, but the king crushes those choices every time.
    
Let me offer a few examples:
    
I don’t know what to write. Beginners offer this one frequently. They stare at a blank page or blank screen, without any progress. The debunkers point out that the person is misstating their actual problem. The writer doesn’t know where to begin. However, all this also states a falsehood. Start with anything, just get some words on the page to rev the mind, and it will become a writing day.
     
One day I’ll make time to write. (Also translated as “Life got in the way.”) To this, the king says P’sha! He finds time to write hundreds of excuses a day, even with ruling his kingdom, dealing with his family, and household duties. It’s important to him. So, he feels that something important will work its way into your schedule. If it doesn’t, it’s not important. This doesn’t claim that you haven’t TRIED to work it into the schedule, just that you’ll need to try harder.
    
I have nothing new to say. In response to this comment, the king usually requests a DNA test. I’ve never heard the complete explanation why, but it has to do with searching for the perfect clone of a person, with identical experiences and thoughts. I assume he means that every unique individual brings their own perspective, so everyone can say something, even if it sounds the same as another.
   
I’m written into a corner. The flippant response is to “write a door for yourself.” Of course, that’s of no help. However, there is truth in the flippant. He’s suggesting searching the story for why you’ve found a corner. Perhaps the answer is hidden within the text, as the Labyrinth showed us, the doors are there, if we look for them.
   
I’m blocked. Oh, the king adores this one. He claims two paths lead to this excuse. One comes from a story breaking from the writer’s comfort zone. They don’t want to follow the story’s suggested plot because it scares them. The second path is the story’s characters don’t agree with the things the writer is forcing on them, because it doesn’t fit the story. It requires the writer to backtrack and find the place where the glitch started, then rewrite or add scenes so that it will work.
   
He’s aware that other issues lead to this comment, but these are the two he’s seen most.
   
Well, I’ve rambled on and it’s almost your turn. Let me present your occupation so we can hear what the king offers for you today.
   
   
   
   
(Special thanks to members of the St Mary’s County Writers Group for offering some excuses that I missed.)
  
Today's post was inspired by the topic “Conquering Procrastination” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.
   
Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/
   
If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Writing for More Than Self

Most times, when we write a story, we write a story we’d like to read. It’s what we search for when we read. If your writing isn’t meant to leave your personal notebook, this can work well.
   
Once you release the writing beyond your personal borders, you need to consider a different aspect of your writing. Do you write what someone else would want to read?
   
Yes, I realize that the artist doesn’t bend to the will of the people. That doesn’t guarantee a sale, though, does it?
   
Just because you would read the story, it doesn’t always translate to what others want to read.
  
If you’re writing in a style similar to a famous author, sometimes, that gains you points. People can compare your writings and suggest you to fans of the famous author. However, it could also lead to two problems. One comes from people assuming that your writing is the famous author’s writing and your name is their pen name. Flattering, but not good for your pocket. The other problem is accusations of theft and plagiarism. Those accusations are career killers.
   
Let’s go the opposite direction. You’ve got a unique style that no one’s seen before. If your style is so far outside of the norm, it may become unsalable, because readers don’t understand it. It might not match anyone’s desired concept, so won’t get past the slush pile reader. In every case, it stalls your career at the door.
   
I’ve offered warnings. Now how do you figure out who your reader is?
  
This is where a writing group or two becomes handy. I’ve suggested staying away from the genre pigeon hole while writing. Once you’ve developed enough of a story that you’d feel safe for others to read, let your writers group see the writing. If your personal demons won’t let an unfinished piece away from your desk, wait until you’ve completed it. That won’t alter the task.
  
With other readers, even ones who read critically for errors, you’ll find hints of problems to having an audience. As an example, if you’re trying to write someone’s speech patterns phonetically, many readers will either skip it or put your story down. Writing group members will remark to the difficulty of reading it and offer ways to repair it.
   
Consider this also offers a reason to have a writing group larger than you plus one or two. The more opinions that you get, the better a feel you have for the problems within the text. Five people read a story. One comment on a problem out of five might be ignored. Three or more comments on the same problem requires a closer look, even if the opinions are not all the same. It was enough for them to say something.
   
Over time, you’ll discover your perfect reader for your writing and focus on pleasing them as well as yourself.
 
 
Today's post was inspired by the topic “Your Ideal Reader” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.
 
Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/
 
If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Getting to Know the Blogger

Q. Why the Pen versus the Sword?

I’m willing to admit, I’m not much of a violent person. I believe that compromise wins arguments, not brute strength. As such, I find that the saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” fits my way of thinking. I chose to title my blog as such, because I wanted to point out that writing with others is stronger than competing against them.

Q. Your posts seem to lack punch. Why don’t you come out and state “this is the way?”

I believe that everyone learns differently and, as such, requires different ways to be creative. I’m not you, the reader. I don’t know what works best for your creative presence. All I know is my own personal writing experiences. Thus, I offer what thoughts I can, in an effort to help those interested in writing. Since I only know myself, all I can offer in opinions.

Q. I’ve never heard of you. What have you had published? Why should I listen to you?

I’m not a big name writer like Stephen King or Mercedes Lackey. I can admit that. So far, I’ve had one story published in a local community college literary magazine. However, I’ve been writing for more than seventeen years. I’ve been in the trenches, as it were, for most of those years, attempting to join the ranks of the published author. I’m offering thoughts as garnered from other writers, in addition to my own experiences. From my standpoint, I say to use what works, ignore the rest. I’m a single voice in a sea of voices.

Q. Coffee, Tea, or Mountain Dew™ ?

At one time, I’d answer any caffeinated soda worked. However, due to recent health scares, I’ve gotten away from soda entirely. Now, I take water or tea, though usually water. I don’t miss the caffeine.

Q. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer?

I’d claim a tie between Picard and Sisko, because they had difference commands with their own unique issues. Blasphemous as this sounds, I never cared for the Original Series. Camp and cheese only go so far for me, and that went well past it for my tastes. Janeway did a good job, even if no one wanted to give her a chance. I didn’t care for her style, myself, but I didn’t mind the female as a captain. As for The “reboot” show, um, there’s a good reason they cancelled it.

If you’d like to know more about me, please leave a comment!



Today's post was inspired by the topic “Perform a Self Interview” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Finding the Breaks in the Levee

I’ve covered a lot of different topics so far this year. Recently, I’ve concentrated on other’s writings. Through it all, of course I expected you to continue working on your own scribbles.

You’ve not forgotten your own writing, have you?

For this post, let’s grab one of your completed pieces. We’d prefer one that’s been percolating and away from your writing consciousness for a bit. I’ll explain why in a minute.

Now that you have all this writing, I’m going to take you through a very basic outline of revising your work. This won’t be the best way to work for some people, obviously, and I don’t claim this as the “only way to work.” With each unique journey, you can’t hope to get it right for everyone who writes. Take what I offer, use what works and trash the rest. I’ll understand.

To run through this task, I tend to have a pencil or pen and spare paper. Some people suggest that you use a specific color pencil or pen, like red. As long as it contrasts with your print out, meaning you can see your changes, any color will do. For me, the color has to do with my mood or the holiday. I edit in green on St Patrick’s Day.

My story print is a draft on standard copy paper, so I can mark it to my heart’s content.

Plus, it’s mine.

Now, why did I ask for an older piece? Here’s why. When writing, psychology has shown that a person immerses one’s self in the piece. That means that a newly completed piece will still rest fresh in your mind and you’ll have more difficulty poking it for problems. With a completed piece that hasn’t been looked at in a while, it’s easier to look at the words objectively.

I know – that will never happen. But one can always hope.

Another way to put this: It’s time to release the inner editor on your writing.

If you’ve read through my critique series, you’ll notice a similar set of steps. I’ve tried to create similar steps for easy learning and streamlined thought processes. It helps that revising and critiquing cover similar ground, as well.

Step 1: Read the story. If you’re home alone or have a quiet space, read it out loud. Just because you wrote the story, it does not mean you can skip this step.

Step 2: Use the pencil to note places of difficulty. I bracket questionable sentences. A karat ( ^ ) is added where I want to add a sentence or other note. This can be done while reading or once you’ve completed the reading. I find during more useful, because the inconsistency is fresh.

Step 3: Taking your spare paper, write out a revised version of your bracketed sentence that flows better for you. If you added a karat, write the sentence or sentences that would clarify the scene. Because you may have multiple instances of changes, it helps to number the changes and place the number with the corresponding karat.

Step 4: Enter your changes into the computer.

Step 5: Reprint.

Step 6: Repeat.

Nothing says these steps can’t happen on the computer screen. The difference is simply placing the changes directly into the document without writing them out. Again, this is personal journey dependent. Some people can revise on a computer screen and some can’t. I’m one who can’t.

Another important thing to realize – not everyone writes straight through to completion. Some people revise the previous day’s work before continuing with new writing. Nothing wrong with that technique, provided you finish writing the piece! Don’t get so hung up on revising the second paragraph of chapter one that you never write the third paragraph.

I’ve offered thoughts on how to do it, but not what to look for when revising. We again refer back to the critique series.

Glaring show stoppers, obvious plot holes, character inconsistencies, dialogue issues, information dumps. Anything that slows the pace of the story or otherwise impinges on the story’s readability, you’ve got to catch with revision. Oh, and things you look for here but don’t in a critique: GRAMMAR ERRORS!

Get back here. They aren’t that scary.

Obviously, your brain won’t catch every mistake on the first pass. That’s why I included that final step – Repeat. Brandon Sanderson has mentioned on his weekly podcast that he sometimes does as many as seven revisions before he’s happy with a book. Tracy Hickman mentioned that he revises at least five times. Stephen King does at least two passes as well.

This covers my brief overview of revision. Obviously, more details exist than I could cover in this short piece. Look for future posts where I expand on those details.

I’d love to hear from others on their techniques, maybe so I can fine tune mine.


Today's post was inspired by the topic “Revisions” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Break the Marketing Pocket Until You’re Selling – Genres

Science Fiction
Literary Fiction
Epic Fantasy
Romance
Horror

Each of these has a specific connotation when attached to a book. When you tell others that you’re a writer, their first question is almost always “What do you write?” Our answer usually fills in with a label similar to those above. However, modern writing has started to defy the old classification model.

In the old days, classification came as an easy task. Computers and electronic gadgetry went into science fiction. Vampires, werewolves, hobgoblins, and their ilk were horror. Extra special powers, be they magic or given by the sun, were fantasy.

Now, it doesn’t come that easy to classify. A vampire story could be romance, fantasy, or horror. Electronic gadgetry could be literary fiction or science fiction.

Confused yet? I am!

Let me add a little more confusion to this mix. In the olden days, fiction was broken into two sections in a store: Literature and Romance. Imagine Terry Pratchett, John Grisham, and Tom Clancy next to a Harlequin Novel. I’m guessing, since my research is still spotty on this, that in order to better market books to a particular reader, they started breaking those large sections down. As we’ve grown more sophisticated, so has our “marketing” niche.

For some, this is important. As an example, they might say: I only read/write about Vampires. Don’t give me any other fantasy blather. In fact, make them into their own category.

For others, this narrows the choices too much. They just want a fantastic story.

With the new internet options of tagging, you can mark something as broad or as narrow as you wish, depending on if you can find such a narrow term to cover it.

Does knowing this idea help you get started with your idea? Sure. You’ll know early on if your writing is based on a space ship, some far away land, or somewhere in downtown Raleigh. That helps when pitching it in the end. When initially writing, it only helps to establish the initial concept. After that, let the imagination enjoy itself.

My best suggestion: Ignore the marketing until you get to the point that the agent or editor needs to sell the book. Write what is in your heart. If someone asks what you write, make the answer simple: Fiction or Non-fiction. If they want it narrowed, talk to them about your concept.

Once you’re selling, have each step of the pyramid in mind for your buyer, from broad overarching category, to the narrowest of concepts.

Until you are selling, forget the genre.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Genre-bending (crossing genre lines)” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/