As the graphic to the left shows (and it should update, just like the one in the sidebar, throughout the month), I’m less than a thousand words away from the halfway point, and still two days to get that thousand words! To say I’m having a blast would be an understatement.

Just as an example, I was writing a scene Thursday night and was a bit stumped in how to resolve a rather dramatic and exciting climax. So, I kept writing, moving the action forward, and just as I was about to surrender, inspiration struck suddenly, and I couldn’t type fast enough (to suit myself) to complete the scene. Not only that, my resolution to the conflict actually worked! (Well, mostly: It will require some editing, but at least there are strong bones upon which to flesh out the scene.)

I ♥ Scrivener

Although I’ve had Scrivener for quite awhile now, and upgraded on November 1 to version 2.0, I hadn’t really used it to any great extent. I mean, a thousand-word short short story is hardly enough of a vehicle to really play around with Scrivener’s many and wonderful features. But I must say, using it almost every day for two to six hours per day for the past two weeks has been great. I’m learning a lot about the program, and I’m also learning there’s a lot more to learn. But that’s okay: I still have 26,000 words to go this month, plus all the editing and cleanup post-NaNo, plus actually, you know, finishing the WIP. (Trust me: simply writing 50,000 words in November does not a novel make!)

The best thing about Scrivener I’ve found is that it’s infinitely flexible. I don’t need to use it the same way, say, Tami uses it, but I can still reap the same benefits.

I Am A Pantser

I’m sure that will disappoint my friend @Arrens, who prefers pantsless, but that’s how I roll.¹

Seriously, though, I’ve discovered (affirmed?) that I write “by the seat of my pants.” The aforementioned Mrs. Moore is a confirmed outliner, and I couldn’t be happier for her.² And I imagine at some point (very possibly when I start Book 2 of The Obsidian Throne), I, too, shall endeavor to create a good, solid, working outline. But for the NaNo project (The Obsidian Throne – Book 1), it’s all autopilot.

Sure, I have a very general idea of where I think this particular book will end, and how. I also know what a couple of upcoming scenes will be, but I’m not yet sure where they fit. But I’m supremely confident that they will fit, and won’t feel shoehorned, either.

One of the best parts—for me, at least—about pantsing is the excitement of discovering “what happens next.” For I have little more knowledge about what’s coming up than my characters do: It’s almost like reading an exciting novel, rather than writing one!

Can we has chapters?³

Why yes, yes we can!

I was looking over my ms. this morning, doing a little housekeeping in Scrivener. So far, I’ve been writing “scenes,” which are not at all the same as chapters. I happened to look at my list of scenes, and saw they could be pretty neatly separated into groups of three…and each group of three scenes came in at roughly similar wordcounts (6144, 6267, 6285, 5337) (okay, Ch. 4 is a little short—funny, because I thought a couple scenes dragged on forever there).

So now I have four “completed” chapters, and I am about to begin Chapter 5. Of course, I’m under no illusion that things will always be this way: I know, for instance, my third scene in Chapter 4 really needs to be spread out quite a bit among both chapters 3 and 4; on the other hand, I also know the first scene in Chapter 5 will fit conveniently in Chapter 4.

BUT!!! (and you know how much I dislike repeated punctuation :p ) BUT!!! Don’t think I’m getting ahead of myself. Circumstances this morning weren’t conducive to actually writing, but I wanted to stay involved in my project. Think of this as an exercise in “keeping my hand in.”⁴

BUT CHAPTERS, PEOPLE! I mean, come on! Chapters!

NaNo 2010 – The Story So Far is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

If you don’t want to follow the link above, the graphic pretty much sums up what NaNo is all about. The objective is to write (at least) 50,000 words of a new novel. That is, start with “Once upon a time,” but you don’t necessarily have to arrive at “… lived happily ever after.” This is especially true if you write 60,000 words of an 80,000-word novel!

Last year, I was on the sidelines for NaNo, supporting friends who were taking part. While I did write some NaNo-related articles, I hadn’t really gotten into writing much (and November was a busy month for me last year, as well). This year, though—another story entirely. So to speak.

I intend to fully participate this year. I have a good nucleus of writing buddies, as you can see on my NaNo page. And one of the very cool things we have going are FORUMS! Yep: the Saucy Wenches set up some good old-fashioned forums for us to write about writing in general, NaNo in particular, and just about anything else.

So if you’re going to take the NaNo plunge, share that with us in the comments, and by all means come join us on the Saucy NaNo Forums!

Are You Ready for Some NaNo? is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

If you are passionate about writing, too, then you should be passionate about getting it right, and that’s what I’ll help you do through the next several paragraphs.

Prepare your manuscript for editing

Currently, I do my editing in Microsoft Word 2008 for Macintosh; I also have Word for Windows 2007, but I haven’t reinstalled it under Windows 7. So when I talk about how to do a particular function, I’m speaking specifically of the latest releases of Word; however, most word processors have similar functions. In fact, the exact steps may be identical to Word’s.

Everyone has their own way of composing: I’m going to make a wild guess that 99 percent of you did so on your computers, rather than with quill pens on foolscap or #2 pencils on legal pads. For the one percent of you who are that deeply into self-abuse, this is not the help you need!

The first thing we’ll do is set up your manuscript for editing. Whether you’ll edit by hand (i.e., print the entire document and blue-pencil it) or electronically (using your software’s proofing tools), the steps I’ll discuss in this section are the same. The aim here is to give yourself some room to see your manuscript as individual words. You aren’t working on content at this point: Instead, you’re going to perform a whole slough of “mechanical” tasks first. In addition, don’t turn on your “track changes” tool in your word processing software—it’s much too early for that.

Format 1.5" margins all around; double-space; Courier-12

First, format your manuscript with 1.5” (3.81cm) margins all around. You want plenty of room for notes and proofreaders’ marks, regardless of your editing and proofing method. Next, select all of your text (usually, CtrlL-A in Windows; Cmd-A in OS X). Then, change your font to 12-point Courier.

Say what? UGH! What an ugly font! Indeed it is, but keep in mind what our objective is at this point: We want to see individual words, sentences, paragraphs. Proportional fonts (Calibri, Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond) are designed to help us read, and typically when we read, we do not read one word at a time. Thus, those fonts help words and sentences flow together. A fixed-width font, on the other hand (especially Courier), does not make for easy reading.¹

Get rid of those extraneous spaces!

Since your final product will be presented in a proportional font, you need to format it as a typesetter would. So before you turn on Track Changes, you are going to go on a search and destroy mission. Many of us were taught, when we learned to type, to insert two spaces after a period (full stop) or colon. (If you are using a manual typewriter, disregard the following.) In typesetting (i.e., using proportional fonts), only one space follows a period or colon. The reason for this is the proportionality: Depending on the length of the line, regardless of whether paragraphs are right-justified or “ragged-right,” any given space may be em- or en-width. Simply defined, that’s the width of an “m” or “n” in the font.²

In modern typography, double-spacing after a period or colon is wrong. Get used to it.

Now, you may be rebelling at this dictum, but I promise you: The first trained editor who works on your manuscript (whether it’s your NaNo novel or some other opus) will obliterate those extraneous spaces. And they probably won’t be kind.³

In Word, Ctrl-H or Shift-Cmd-H brings up the Find/Replace dialog. In the “Find” window, type two spaces; in “Replace” type a single space. Then hit “Replace All.” Repeat until zero occurrences are found.⁴

Run that spell-checker

Still with Track Changes off, it’s time to turn on your spelling checker. As Tami mentioned in her outline to our Saucy Wenches podcast, be prepared to be blinded by red squiggly lines! You need to do something with each and every one of those beauties.

Take your time, and be sure you check and double-check everything that is highlighted. If it’s a name (especially if it’s a name!) be very sure the first occurrence is spelled correctly, then add it to your spell-checker’s dictionary.⁵

If your hero’s name is “F’lar” you need to fix Flar, Fi’lar, and Fl’ar.

I promise you, especially if you’re writing speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, or paranormal) and you used weird names, you misspelled a character’s name at least once. For example, if your hero’s name is “F’lar,” you want to correct occurrences of “Flar,” “Fi’lar” and “Fl’ar.”⁶

If you choose to “Ignore” a highlighted word, be sure you check the “Ignore all” box so all like occurrences are now accepted. That way, when you see it highlighted again, you’ll know that this time it’s not spelled the way you want.

This is also a good time to have a real dictionary handy: There is a good possibility you misspelled a word because you don’t use it often. And if you don’t use a word often, there is likewise a probability you are using it improperly. A list of examples is outside the scope of the current article, but Temerity-Jane’s “Winceable” article is a great place to find some.

More fun with find and replace

If you are into self-flagellation, this next suggestion is for you: Get a list of homophones (words that sound alike but are spelled differently, such as their, there, they’re or to, too, two) and do a search on each of them. Be sure you used the right form. Alternatively, if you consistently use the wrong spelling of “there,” for example, just run that through your finder, and be sure you get them all right.

As you can see, you do a lot of mechanical stuff with Find/Replace: Your imagination and capacity for self-abuse are the only limits.

Now you’re ready for the heavy lifting. I hope you’ve been working out.

If you happen to have a copy of the AP Stylebook, Chicago Manual of Style, or Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, I respectfully suggest you loan them to a friend for the duration; preferably, a friend in another country.

The first two of those resources are intended primarily for journalists and other nonfiction authors, where strict adherence to style is considerably more important than in fiction writing. To a newspaper copy editor, for example, adjectives are anathema.⁷ In nonfiction, there are a lot more strictures to be observed than in nonfiction, so those books are essential.⁸

On the other hand, a good dictionary is now your very best friend. What you do not want your readers to do is sound like Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride: “…that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” A good dictionary (and I can’t recommend Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (Web11) too highly) does a lot more than provide proper spelling: It is replete with usage examples, as well as comments on style.⁹

And now…start reading. But not for content; not to find out “what happens next.” You’re looking for misplaced modifiers, missing (and extraneous) commas, punctuation errors, missing words. Oh! the drudgery.

• Do your sentences and paragraphs flow?
• Did you suddenly start referring to a character you never properly introduced?
• Is the timeline correct?
• Does your hero’s eye color change from blue to green and back to blue?
• Does the heroine’s hair change from short and curled to long and straight, from blonde to redhead?

And those are the simple things!

In case you didn’t do it while writing (or beforehand), now is when you must do research.

If your novel is set during WWII, your characters shouldn’t be drinking mojitos.

• If your story takes place in another country, and you write about a Saturday mail delivery, are you certain the post is delivered on Saturdays there?
• If your protagonist is driving from Kansas City to St. Louis, is she driving east, and on Interstate 70, rather than west on I-80?
• Are the period details in your story accurate and contemporary? If your novel is set during World War II, for example, you probably shouldn’t have your characters drinking Long Island Ice Tea and mojitos. (Gin and tonic or Scotch and soda would be more appropriate, in case you’re wondering.)

I think this is probably a good place to stop for now. The next Saucy Wenches podcast, and a future article of mine, will discuss some of the other parts of copyediting, such as what to do when you realize you skipped a whole chapter, put it in the wrong place, or wrote a chapter that doesn’t even belong.

In addition, I’ll have several shorter (thank God!) articles on specific elements of punctuation and grammar. In the meantime, I’d like to know from you what specific problems you’ve run into, and if you’d like me to address any of them. (And yes, I fully intend to address the who/whom question from the podcast!) Feel free to make suggestions in the comments.

Copyediting 1A: Nitpick Your NaNo is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Once I’ve recorded that podcast, I’ll put a lot of the tips I discuss with Tami and Bre into written format (think of it as expanded show notes), then I’ll follow up with a series of short articles that will focus on specific potential "gotchas."

In addition, I’m busy editing short fiction for one NaNo winner, short fiction for a podcaster, and getting ready to do some heavy-duty copyediting for at least a couple NaNo winners. 

Oh…and taking 10 days around Christmas to spend on Kaua’i with my family! Going to do my best to blog from there as well…but I wouldn’t be holding my breath, if I were you!

In the meantime, if anyone would like to contribute a guest post to the Aerie for the period December 21 – January 1, let me know!

Coming Soon to An Aerie Near You! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Although I was not writing a novel, I will be helping my friends as they go through rewrites, editing, revising, and the like. Throughout the month, I’ve been there to urge them on, and the past week I’ve even taken part in a couple "sprints" with Iris–periods during which we wrote steadfastly, without distraction. I wrote a couple blog articles (including this one), and while I was drafting this post, Iris hit her 50K goal.¹

While I am under no illusions that my encouragement made the difference between finishing or not finishing for either Krizz or Iris, I’d like to believe I helped make the journey a bit smoother for them. I know I feel a sense of accomplishment too, much as a midwife does when she helps to deliver a child (in fact, I may have been seen to exhort my friends to "Push! Push!"). I am proud of them; in fact, I’m proud of every one of my friends and acquaintances who took part in NaNo 2009, regardless of whether you hit 50K or not. The fact you tried, that you committed to making an effort, is significant. And there is always next year! Who knows? I may make the effort myself, next year, to find my larger muse.

And remember: Writing is forever, not just for November.

A Quick Reflection on NaNoWriMo is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Listen to Bre and Tami discuss NaNo on the Saucy Wenches Podcast

To learn more about NaNo, you may either click the link above, or better yet, listen to Bre and Tami describe and discuss NaNo on their latest Saucy Wenches podcast. (Of course, you should listen to the Saucy Wenches anyway, because they are just that good, and I don’t say that simply because they are very good friends, or because they invited me to a guest appearance on the show in December. Ahem…moving on now…)

In their latest podcast, the Saucy Wenches talk about using this month, October, to get ready for NaNo. They include things as letting your family know of your endeavor, to elicit both support and understanding, when hot dogs and mac’n'cheese are the staples for dinner throughout November. (I dunno what happens on Thanksgiving, which falls right smack in the middle of crunch time!) The ladies also advise getting at least one person to be your NaNo conscience, to prod you each day to produce the roughly 1700 words it will take each day to hit the 50K goal.

If you’re planning on doing NaNo, and you are waiting for November 1 before you get started, you’re already way behind the 8-ball. I’m not sure 17 days will be enough time for you to get ready, but here are some things you must do to be successful.

First, do you have any idea what your novel is about? By now, you should have a rough idea of how the novel starts, a couple main scenes, what the primary conflict is, and how your book will end.

November 1 is too late to plan your novel

Second, who is going to star in your opus? Who are your main characters? Are you going to narrate in first or third person? If the latter, from whose point(s) of view? If you think you can wait until you actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, more likely), you might want to consider waiting until 2010 NaNo. Seriously.

Let me tell you a quick story: I had this great scene in my mind (from a dream, no less), and it was so lucid, so detailed, I thought I could write a novel, or at least a short story, around it. So I started writing. Characters were easy. The opening scene was easy. I even knew where I wanted to be in three or four chapters, and I had an idea of how the story might end. Unfortunately, I did no planning. I did no outlining. And that story is still stuck on the first scene, because I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to get from point A to point B (almost literally: I had to get the characters from inside to outside, and make it work). Sounds simple, but without a plan on how to implement your idea, you will NOT get past the "I have a great idea for a book!" stage.

As Bre and Tami mention in their podcast, the actual process of writing is not easy either. They make a very big point that during November, all you want to do is write. No editing, no revising, no multiple drafts: You simply do not have time (unless your name is Isaac Asimov, and it isn’t, because he’s dead).

Many of you will be using Word or other word-processing software to produce your novel. Keep in mind during NaNo, your objective is simply to produce words–lots of them–rather than process them. So here are some suggestions to minimize the distractions your software can present. Do these NOW, not in November!

Turn off spell check and grammar correction!

• Turn off Spell Check. November is not the time to be distracted by squiggly red lines all over the place. If your typing/spelling is so bad you won’t be able to decipher your work later, use Word’s auto-correct feature to add all the words you typically mistype or misspell. Fill that database up! For example, auto-correct "teh" to "the." (Actually, I think that’s built in, but you should get the idea.)

• Turn off Grammar Correction. As if those red squiggles aren’t enough, the blue/green ones drive me batty. Besides, you’re writing a novel, not a textbook. A lot of the suggestions Word makes simply don’t make sense for fiction writing. And in case I haven’t made the point yet, this is not the time to act as your own copyeditor.

Want to really go old school? There are several programs out there (and I think you can do it in Word, but I’m not certain) that will simply put text on the screen. In other words, "typewriter mode." I am aware of several for the Mac; I’m sure there are others out there for Windows machines as well. Lifehacker recently highlighted a method for distraction-free writing in Google Docs. For those of you who will be using any collaboration at all, or even if you are flying solo, this could be the way to go. This article also includes links to other ideas for reducing clutter in your word-processing application, so it’s worth a look just for those links.

Finally, one last tip. I have said, at least a couple times, that December is when you want to revise, rewrite, edit, fix, do whatever with your Great American Novel. So put something on your Christmas list to help you do this: A brand-spanking-new copy of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (MW11 or Web11, as it’s known in the publishing world). At almost every publishing house in the United States, Web11 is the definitive resource for word use. If you’re a writer, I submit it’s ten times more important than Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook or Chicago Manual of Style.

What are your plans for NaNo? What else are you doing to prepare this month, for next month? Comments are open!

Wordsmith Wednesday: Get Ready for NaNoWriMo is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie