Writing Technique: Wrapping Up

Here's everything I have left under the category. Sorry it's so disorganized.

Sari Mathes talks about Writing with Rhythm. This is something I  think a lot of novelists overlook. Rhythm is just for poets, isn't it? But your novel's words still ring in the heads of your readers, as if they were reading it out loud. Rhythm and flow is important. If you're getting a lot of rejections that say the writing or the voice wasn't what they were looking for, this may be the answer.

You probably knew a little about words and how they sound in your head when you read them. You ever read a book where the same word is used over and over again and it seems to echo in your brain? The Blood-Red Pencil addresses Word Redundancy here.

They also touch on Writing Effectively from a structural, bare-bones stance.

I touched on word choice last week, but It's All About the Editing does a great job of outlining several editing techniques here at The Business of Writing.

And finally, Darcy Pattison has done it again with Scene Dissection. A must-read.

Writing Technique: Lists of Helpful Tips and Word Usage

Continuing on with Writing Technique. Most of these links are self explanatory so we'll get right into it... ready? Okay.

30 One-minute Tips for Strengthening Your Novel, courtesy of Darcy Pattison.
51 Over-Used Adverbs, Nouns, and Cliches in Writing by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen
And a list of Plague Words to avoid
Joanna Young tells writers How to Write Like Hemmingway (hint: cut out all the useless parts)
And Anita Nolan lists Ways to End a Scene (which works hand-in-hand with Thursday's post) :)
Why You Shouldn't Use Adverbs and Adjectives (Often)

I'll have to give everything else on Tuesday. It covers editing, scenes, and getting down to the bare bones.

Writing Technique: HTRYN lessons 18-21

Thursdays are my How to Revise Your Novel lesson reviews, but since this is Writing Technique week, I decided to skip around a little. The last few lessons of this course (minus the very last one) are all about "cosmetic surgery". This is after you've cut and pasted the crap out of your manuscript and you're doing little things to improve the overall flow and readability. Stuff that makes your book look nice. :)

Holly says you need to open every scene and close every scene so that the reader CANNOT put your book down. I'm struggling with this. Especially with beginning each and every scene with a hook. I like to shock my reader a little further into the scene with a big twist. Right when they least expect it ;)

I'm pretty good about ending a scene on a hook, though. That I can do, especially if it's the end of a chapter. Anyway, something to think about.

Another tip I've heard a million times over: Read your book aloud. It takes forever. You look like and idiot. And you catch problems with work usage, flow, and voice. I haven't tried this yet, but I will. I think it's just what my book needs. I learn more by hearing anyway, so the problems in my book should ring in my ears a little better than if I just read through it.

And another thing I have a problem with is telling my readers what to feel. Not in an obvious way, but more like: Rachel banged her fists down in anger.

Um.... duh. If she's banging her fists down, the reader can probably pick up on the fact that she's angry without me spelling it out.

Little things like that can make a huge difference.

Hope this helps!

Writing Technique: The Kitchen Sink

This week (and maybe next week, depending on how this goes) I'll cover a slew of stuff having to do with the craft of writing. Today's going to be a hodge-podge of craft-related links.

I'll start with an article on Point of Veiw and Motivation-Reaction Units. If you're not familiar with MRU's, I suggest you look into it. Using these has improved my writing by leaps and bounds, bringing the reader closer to the charcater and making the sequence of events make more sense.

On a similar note, Plot to Punctuation addresses a common issue: dismemberment of your characters. You may be putting your character's parts and feelings ahead of the characters themselves. This is something that can really throw a reader out of your story, but it isn't addressed very often. Since I'm bad at explaining it, here's a quote:

Every time you put one or more of a character’s composite parts in the subject position of the sentence, you rob the character of just a little bit of power. You take the whole character out of control, in favor of a mere portion of the character.

Ever wonder about internal monologue? C. Patrick Shultz gives some fantastic guidelines here.

A scene has to be tight. You need to clear away all the garbage in order for the gems to shine. Here's something on the Glory of the Garbageman from Imperfect Clarity. Roz Morris says, yes it's important to get rid of the clutter, but don't get rid of the gems, too! She tells writers how to Control Your Text.