Writing Versus Editing

I love writing.

I loathe editing.

Let me clarify. I hate editing MY stuff. I write my first drafts very quickly--I can get to 100k in 20 days without a problem if I'm on a roll. When I'm writing my first draft, I don't worry about word choice or bad habits--I just plow on through. For example, I use LOTS of dialogue tags and adverbs--they set the characters' mood throughout a conversation--when I write a first draft. So, the main purpose of the second draft is to write most of them out. I replace them with actions or with internal dialogue. Probably, in the long run, I strike about 90 % of them during the course of the second draft. Then on the third draft, I discover that I cut some needlessly or that I left the wrong ones in.

From that point on, it's a juggling act.

I was editing an manuscript for another writer the past couple of weeks and I found myself commenting, "You need to find some other action for theses characters other than "he looked and smiled." or "she glanced away and sighed" or "he nodded his head and frowned."" Then when I went back to my manuscript every single instance where I had done that glared at me from the page. So I went back through and cut most of those.

Even notice in your writing that you have a pet phrase or word? Mine is 'suddenly.' After a thorough analysis of the 'suddenlys' in my manuscript, I determined that I'd used the word 1800 times in a 120k manuscript and of those 1698 of them were placed where the action wasn't really sudden. Out came the red pen, out went the suddenlys.

No matter what anyone says, editing is the most important part of writing. Sure, the imagination needed to create fiction is vital as are the personalities you give your characters. But in the long run, the editing is what will take your work where it needs to go. Without it, your novel has virtually no chance of success with either agents or publishers. So no matter how much you hate it, you an't avoid it. I sent back a round of first edits to an author a few months ago where the entire right-hand margin of the manuscript were covered top to bottom with little red balloons. Great story; no editing.

So the moral of this story is: you know how all the submission guidelines tell you to make sure that your manuscript is clean? Believe them. Eliminate all those pet phrases and grammatical errors and misspelled words and send them as perfect a product as you can. No one will recognize your genius if you send them sloppy work.

Learn to love the red pen--it is your friend. Trust me.

Creating a New World

Ah...worldbuilding. Creating a fictional world is where most young authors fail. So, I though I'd post about how I build my worlds and how the process works.

First, what do you need to create a new world? You need the geography and a map. The geography will help to lay out the climate. It will also dictate the type of people who live in particular part of the climate--and the critters. You can't put a reptilian critter into a climate that is arctic, for example. After you've figured out the physical aspects of the world, it's time to populate it. As you're populating, you're laying the foundation for the cultural aspects of the people. A large city on the coast (which I personally would map if it was the central location for my story), for example, would be a conglomerate of many peoples. The emphasis in the city would be on trade. You'd have a financially prosperous merchant class, countless sailors, a fairly strong military presence in the city (guards) and probably a very seedy underground group of people who are a syndicate of thieves. Next, you'd build your political scenario--a scenario whose foundation consists of the make-up of citizens in this seaport city. Is it a monarchy? A republic? An oligarchy? A medieval style fantasy would probably be a monarchy, and any time you deal with a monarchy you'd have to known exactly how the ruler came to the throne. That means that the next thing you'd do is the history of the city. How long has the ruling house been in power? How did they get there? Did one of the monarch's ancestors found the city? If not, gig this ruling family come to power because of a civil war? You need dates--a timeline of events. Is there a constitution? What does it say? What is the official religion of the city? Which leads us to religion. Religion is, in my opinion, one of the more important aspects of fantasy. Is this a monotheism or a polytheism? is there a protector god of the city, like Athena was to Athens? If so, why? What kind of organization is there within the religion? Are there temples? Monasteries? How do people become priests or priestesses? Are they acolytes (novices) first? Are they 'called' by the god? Are they recruited by the senior clergy? What do they study? For how long? Are they celibate? What are the rituals of the temple? Are these rituals mystic?

That was just the preliminary work for ONE city in your world. Just one. If you have five or six locations that you use in your story, you need to do the same amount of work for each one. The goal when building a new world is simple: know the answer to any question someone else (agent, editor, reader) might ask. If someone asked you where the slum are of the city is, know the answer.

Second, it's time to build your characters. Character development is just as important as creating the world ... and it's an integral part of world building. This is what I do:

Let's say I've decided my main character is female. Since I always write about strong female protagonists, that part really isn't much of a decision. (hahaha--giggle break) So the first thing I do is decide upon her characteristics at the time of the story. Create a physical description and be specific. Tamsen, the main character in the Asphodel Cycle, is 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 128 pounds or so. She is slender, but extremely muscular. Her eyes are silver and so is her hair. She is fleetingly beautiful, a woman who inspires polarized opinions about her looks. Her personal charisma is such that, in the end, men are convinced that she is the loveliest creature they've ever seen. She is brilliant, with a logical mind and the ability to make decision quickly. She has a temper, the kind that rarely gets to the point of fury but once she's there you'd better run. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and ages a year in each successive book.

Now take that description and explain how each characteristic came to be, just as follows:

Tamsen is tall because both of her parents arre half-elf. Her father (and now I had to name him) Prosper de Asphodel is descended from the Elven royal family (name it) of Ka'antira, and the Ka'aantira are, to a man, tall, slender, and muscular. Prosper himself was almost 7 feet tall. Tamsen is muscular-not in the femlae bodybuilder sort of way but in the tai chi, yoga kind of way--because as she was growing up with her Elven kin, she had to learn archery, how to climb the trees and move through the forest canopy in order to escape the notice of enemies, and how to run for long distances without stopping--a daily workout from hell. Her eyes and hair are silver now, but they didn't used to be. Originally, she had long black hair and light blue eyes that were ringed with silver. When she fought a duel with an enemy sorcerer in the forest, she was knocked unconscious. While she was unconscious, the goddess (name her0 the Virgin Huntress came to her and offered her the opportunity to be the champion of the goddess. Tamsen agreed, and over the next few days while she was still unconscious, all of the color leeched from her hair and eyes until finally they turned a bright, almost iridescent silver. Tamsen unwittingly attracts the interest of several men. In particular, there were two (name them): Brial Ka'breona, a scout from the Elven Realm (name it) Leselle with a hatred of humans and sorcerers; and Anner de Ceolliune, a young Duke of the human realm(name it) of Ansienne. They both vie for her attentions, but her heart is lost fairly quickly to the taciturn, bad-tempered Brial. Anner spends the rest of his life as her best friend and brother in arms to Brial, but continues to nuture his love for Tamsen without comment or complaint. Tamsen, on the other hand, finds herself in the position of defnding her family lands and Leselle from the predatory army of her enemy (name him): her hated and despised uncle Gabril de Spesialle. Brother to Tamsen's mother, Spesialle loathes Elves. Upon discovering the true parentage of his sister, he travels to Asphodel and murders Tamsen's parents while she watches, hidden in the orchards. When Spesialle discovers that his niece is alive, he launches attacks on both the forest of Leselle and the county of Asphodel. Tamsen has to raise an army, one comprised of both humans and Elves. She must overcome their heriditary distrust of each other. Her success in doing so leads the men around her to respect her abilities and leadership, thus binding them to her in loyalty. They tend to overlook her temper, mostly because she loses it so rarely and when she does lose it it's for a very good reason. They watch as she uses too much of her magical power, weakening herself to the point that her body is completely debilitated. This, too, inspires them to look upon her in awe and to look to her for answers. In such a manner, she becomes the leader of a small but influential group of men--and she uses that group to insinuate herself in the highest levels of political power, despite her young age.

See how it layers itself? I use this process two or three times, the descriptions of the whys and wherefores not only devloping the idiosyncracies of the character, but giving me parts of the storyline to pursue. In this manner, your character development can also begin your outlining of the plot.

Finally, you have to create the central conflict of the story. Tamsen's conflict is with her uncle Spesialle. Because he's attacked the Elves, she becomes involved in Elven politics--and conscious of her royal status. Because he's destroyed the monarchy of Ansienne, she dives into their political turmoil as well. Because he throws his army at his enemies, she learns the ways of war and becomes a strategist out of necessity. Because he's a sorcerer with great power, she develops her own magic to unforeseen heights. She reacts to his moves, and in the process matures her only abilities in order to counter them. a confrontation between them is inevitable. Tamsen builds herself up to the point where she can confront him as his equal. It is her sole motivation initially, but she gradually grows to care about the problems of both the Elven Realm and the human world and seeks a way to reconcile them while healing them both.

Now we're done with the main character. That's great, right? Well now it's time to do the same for the rest of the major characters. Here again, you want to know the answer to any question someone else might ask BEFORE they ask it.

Actual question from a reader...and my answer:

"Hey Celina. Why does Tamsen have all of these older men who are experienced in war and politics looking to her for answers or instructions?"

"Well, because as she comes to terms with the fact that she is the sole heir to the Elven throne, she becomes more incisive. She's the unifying factor between the Elven and human realms; the only half-elf left in existence as far as anyone can tell. They look to her because she has great magical power. They look to her because if it weren't for her, there would be no chance of defeating Spesialle in his bid to take the throne of Ansienne and to annihilate the Elves."

Now just off of this exercise, we've developed a world and character with true complexities. After you're done, you have a world map, a history of the world, a central conflict in the present timeline of the story, characters that have intricate histories, motivations, and situations in life, and outlined political systems and religions. Now you're ready to take what you've created and write out the story that this work compels you to write.

The more development you put into your world building, the more credible and intersting your story will be. Pay attention to the details, down to what kind of shoes a secondary character is wearing or what the weather patterns will be over the course of six months. Those details are the piece de la reistance; they snatch up the words on paper and transform them into a new reality. That reality is what your readers will sink into as they read your story, and THAT is the goal of every writer.

When I'm building a world, it takes me several weeks. I built Asphodel in three weeks, working eight hours a day. My world building resides now in a file in my cabinet, a file with about 250 pages of information. Will I use all of it? Hell, no. BUT, I have it. I can pull things out of it at will. And, in the long run, if I answer every question put to me about my world, then I have won.

Work on your world building. Build it up to the point that you think you're actually writing a non-fiction history book. And don't be afraid to swipe from our own history--a notable historical event from Roman history can be transformed into a profound plot twist in your story. Research thoroughly. If you're writing about a war, you'd best know how the weapons work, how heavy a sword is, how a bow is made, what kinds of strategies have been effective in the past, how armor weighs upon a man swinging a 20 pound weapon, how far horses can travel in a day (and you'd better be sure to walk them, rest them, feed them, check their feet and pick out stones, and rub them down before covering them for the night).

The more you know about the elements in your world, the more realistic it will seem to your readers. Don't slack on this; don't leave it to chance and the undisciplined proddings of the muse. Because once your stage is set, the play depends upons the characters who strut and fret their moment.

Your audience will applaud. Trust me.

Mscelina's Lexicon of Rules For Young Writers

I've been running into a lot of young writers on the web lately and I've noticed an interesting trend. Back when I was a kid...

okay. shut up. Quit snickering.

... I didn't know of ANY people my age who locked themselves in their rooms to write. My writing was always kind of hush-hush (unless it was a contest) because the 'weird' label is one a high school girl doesn't want to attract. While all of the other kids were running the streets and wreaking havoc, I was pounding away on an old manual typewriter churning out horrible stories and dreaming of becoming a 'real' author.

Now it's not so unusual to find kids who are already published before they even go to college. What in the heck happened? Neither of my girls are huge on writing, although they both are voracious readers so I can't attribute this trend to some sort of strange contagion. I personally know of a fourteen year old who is giving out grammar advice on a major writers' forum.

So when did writing become cool?

Once upon a time, the only kids that wrote poetry with Goth kids who transcribed their social alienation into escapist art. I was an oddity for producing a full-length manuscript at 17 and a full-length play at 22. I mean, sure--I can see getting a short story or a poem published in a literary magazine run by an educational organization but these kids are ambitious and driven and are pushing themselves to succeed despite all of the conventional wisdom that tells them they are too young.

So, in honor of that, welcome to mscelina's lexicon of rules for young writers.

(1) Those people that tell you you're too young are WRONG. You're not too young.

(2) However, there is a lot of truth to the concept that you need life experiences in order to write compelling, realistic fiction. Live a lot. By that, I mean that a good writer is a good observer. You may not have experienced enough in your day-to-day life to write about a realistic situation BUT if you are a good observer you can learn a lot. For example: the cafeteria lady is obviously having a bad day. How do you know? Her eyes are red-rimmed, she's slamming food onto the tray, she's not maintaining eye contact with anyone. What else do you see about her? What other clues can you find to let you know how she's feeling?

(3) You can never read too much. And you know all those classics of literature they force you to read in English class? DO NOT get the Cliff's notes. READ them. Regardless of how boring they are (and I believe you they are--I still can't abide Hemingway) they will teach you as much or more about the inner workings of a story, about how to develop a character, and how to resolve conflicts. Reading good books--and lots of them--is your training ground.

(4) Grammar is your friend. Yep, all those pesky dangling participles and split infinitives are a pain in the wazoo, but do you want to end up like me? I'm still fighting my comma addiction. Don't let grammar slip through your fingertips. JUST SAY NO.

(5) Read your stories aloud. You'd be surprized how much you can find out about your writing just by HEARING it.

(6) So your friends think you're weird for writing? Screw 'em.

(7) Learn to take criticism. One of the natures of this beastly business is that everyone is a critic--and everyone gets criticized. Accept the fact that there are people who know a hell of a lot more than you and consider what they tell you. And yes...I have to remind myself of this one every day. This piece of advice works for adult writers as well as it does for young ones.

(8) Get used to rejection. We ALL get rejected. Some of us get rejected more than others. It's not get you. Every rejection, however, is a stepping stone on the path to acceptance. Once you start getting personalized rejection letters you'll know you're getting close.

(9) There's no such thing as a perfect first draft. It doesn't matter who are you, you have to rewrite. This is the one that stalled me out for over a decade. And your primary editor is YOU. Don't rely on other people to do that for you. Critique boards are nice, but you should already have rewritten anything you submit to a crit board once or twice before you allow anyone else to look at it.

(10) Omniscience is boring--and irritating. Especially self-proclaimed omniscience. Writing is a business as much as it is a craft. You DON'T know everything. You actually don't know anything. Accept that and move on. Research everything. Ask questions. Learn--as all writers learn--and store that knowledge to help you along the path.

(11) And finally, a writer's life is a lonely life. For a portion of each day, you must immerse yourself in a world that no one else can share. Solitude is your friend. Make it your ally as well.

Personally, I'm very encouraged by the sheer volume of young writers I'm running into. I think it's a great trend, particularly in a world where the arts are being downplayed in favor of the sciences. Keep writing--write something every day--and keep dreaming those great dreams. Young writers now have tools available to them that a generation earlier would have killed for. It's a world where reading is once again fashionable for our adolescents (oh thankyouthankyouthankyou JK Rowling!) and as a result writing is as well. Don't get discouraged.

Oh, and go out and buy my book. Just kidding. It was the only way I could think of to insert another shameless plug for The Reckoning of Asphodel (available now at www.aspenmountainpress.com) without looking like an idiot. *grin*

Cheers!