Writing's a Battlefield

I listen to a surprising amount of Pat Benatar when I write. Pat, Aimee Mann, Dave Matthews, and The Kooks. Those are my go-to bands for writing. I'm not sure why. Probably because I've been listening to them so long that they sort of become white noise and let me focus.

Right. Wednesday. Writing Tips. Let me first say that I've written more stuff that's NOT publishable than is, so feel free to say, "What a tool!" and move on. I won't be offended. I might cry, but don't let that stop you. No really. Go ahead and go.

I've never been a fan of Stephen King. I'm just not a horror fan. I read "Salem's Lot" for a class in college and enjoyed it immensely, but I never cozied up to his whole collection like my brother did. I was too busy reading fantasy novels. Anyway. Even though I wasn't a fan of King's fiction, I found his book "On Writing," and picked it up. This was back when I was working on my second real attempt at a novel. It was slow going and I was having MAJOR doubts. Stephen King's book is pretty much the reason I'm published today.

The biggest thing I took from it was to always be honest. Be honest to your readers. Be honest to yourself. Never shy away from anything. If your character would say it or do it, then write it. Never censor yourself.

That's my first writing tip. Be Honest.

Why? Because if you're not, your readers will know. Especially in YA. If you're writing about a teenager FOR a teenager, not only are they going to know when you're being inauthentic, but they're going to call you out on it in a very big way.

And I'm not just talking about being honest about the topics you write. It doesn't mean you have to tackle Sex, Drugs, and Emo. I'm talking about honesty in every aspect. I'm talking about opening yourself up. I'm talking about getting out the fountain pen, tapping a vein, and getting some blood on the page.

If your writing isn't tapping your own emotions, then it's not real.

When I wrote The Deathday Letter, I tapped all my awkwardness from high school. All the times I was in school and I heard people talking about me. All my embarrassing moments. I didn't write them in, nothing in my book has ever happened to me, but I tapped the emotions. All the emotions in the book are real because I was honest about how I felt and how my characters would feel.

Right. So there it is. Be honest. Just trust me on this one.

Have an awesome day!

Home Stretch?

Life has been a tad chaotic, hence the lack of posting.  A good friend is down so I'll get to see her and her baby tonight (big-time with the YAY), and I've been a bit under the weather the last couple of days.  I think it might have been a little nudge from my depression, but either way I'm feeling much more on the up and up.

I caught Into the Wild, which rocked and I think everyone should see, as well as Lars and the Real Girl.  Lars... should be watched because it proves that NOTHING is too weird to write about.  I've also been really overplaying The Kooks new album "Konk."  I bought The Kooks a while ago and they sat in my iPod for a while before I finally listened to them.  I didn't really like them at first...that's not fair to say....they didn't grab my attention would be better.  But the more I listened the more I really loved their sound.  The new album is the first way.  There's nothing that breaks out and shakes loose, but each listen makes me love it more and more.  I highly recommend. 

I've turned the corner and am now (I'm pretty sure, sort of) on the home stretch.  I think.  I mean, there's still stuff that has to happen, and one of those things is MAJOR (since it's book 1 of maybe 3, the climax is going to come near the end...except that there's really two climaxes.  Would that make my book a woman?) so I still have a good bit of work to do, but I feel like I can see the end, and I feel like I've really got something.  My characters have come together in ways I couldn't have imagined when I started and I'm able to see their paths and I really like where they're going.

I sat down last night and did little one line summaries of all my chapters to now, and I'm pretty convinced that I'm going to condense the first 6 chapters into two or three.  I just really think they could be much tighter and get to the action far quicker.

Word of the day:  Penultimate