A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

Returning from vacation and too tired to cook, my husband and I went out for dinner. We talked about the week ahead. “I have all these ideas for Wednesday’s blog but nothing seems to gel,” I told him. “Why don’t you write about how you got started. You know your journey since you decided to leave teaching and start writing,” he suggested. “Not sure that would be of interest,” I answered. After dinner I came home to find the following message from a friend now living in Nebraska: Hey, Becky! I have been following your progress on your book,  and I'm so happy that you're writing! How cool! I bet writer wannabes are coming out of the woodwork asking your advice these days, and as much as I hate to be one of them, I will. I write some for The Lookout and write other freelance type things, and I have written a couple of very rough drafts of novels. They're currently just sitting on my computer, but from time to time I consider getting t...

In working on my novel, I came to a dilemma regarding my protagonist’s inner journey. I remembered hearing something at a writing conference about a similar situation so I started sorting through my conference notes. During the search, I came to realize I have collected a lot of “stuff” at conferences. I am not just talking about free pens and an assortment of writer’s guidelines. Jotted in the margins of my notes are numerous references to comments made by fellow writers on the path to being published. Since many of you are reading this because you aspire to one day write a book, I thought I would pass on to you ten tidbits of info I have gathered to date. These are in no particular order. Do with them what you will. 1)    If you want your book to be available as an e-book only, feel free to write as many words as you like. But if you intend for it to be made available as a “print on demand” (POD) book as well, you must limit your word count to no more than 70,00...

My granddaughter was visiting. She wanted to set up the toy train set. As we began laying the track I couldn’t help but think about how much this was like the second Act in my novel. My first draft was much like laying down track, a straight line from beginning to end. As Nora and I played, we made the track more interesting by adding a few turns, a bridge and a small hill to climb. Eventually we set up trees and buildings along the tracks. I have been working this past week to do precisely the same to my manuscript. I have been making sure I have a few twists and turns, an uphill climb for my main character. Along the way I added some descriptive setting elements. I am working to bring it all to a satisfactory end, my destination. I had to read Act II several times, refer to Act I to make sure I had laid down the proper track to set my story rolling. I  once read that to keep the momentum, a writer should use shorter sentences during Act II. That has been ...

Wow! What a busy but rewarding week. I have said it before, keeping up a blog to track my progress in writing this book makes me accountable.  Never more so than this past week. I had to really get into the nitty-gritty of the story I had created and make revisions. Of course, if you have been reading along, you know I changed Shirley’s name to Livvie. I am thankful I live in this age of technology. I did a simple search and replace command and Shirley became Livvie! I just wish other changes were as simple. I examined the manuscript to identify those sections where I am “telling” instead of “showing.” I was able to recast some of my story by working it into dialogue or action. I worked on helping my audience “feel” what my character was feeling without coming right out and saying it. We’ll eventually see how well I did that. Taking the story apart Act-by-Act makes it a manageable task for me. This week I am ready to take on a much larger portion of my man...

Actually, today’s blog is the beginning of a three part series. Think of a play or movie divided into three acts. I am sure there are many models for drafting a novel out there, but one good way follows the pattern of a three-act play. In this first segment I will share my personal insights on Act 1. That is, I will share what should be accomplished in the first act while at the same time evaluate the novel I am working on to see how well I have met those goals. Goals for Act 1 In the first Act of my story I am obligated to my reader to set everything up. This means I need to set the tone and pace for my book, introduce my main characters, set up a serious problem for my character(s) and perhaps offer my reader a glimpse of a villain. I need a “hook.” The hook is a strong first sentence or action to compel my reader to continue. Finally, I want to create a turning point near the end of Act to keep my reader engaged and push them on to read Act II. As you can see, th...