Every week, I critique a few chapters or sections of stories, but recently one of my critique buddies and I did a full novel exchange. Although I try to keep the full novel in mind when I critique chapters (if possible), a full novel critique is very different. You want to focus on the big picture, rather than line by line details. What I discovered:

 1. If you read through as though you’re reading a regular book, you can give a “first impression” of the book as a whole, e.g. loved it, hated it, something in between.

 2. You can think about the overall strengths of the story. What parts (scenes or chapters) are really good? Does the story hold your interest all the way through?   

 3. Characters make overall impressions too. Try thinking about the question: Which characters did you like and why? I liked being able to see how characters fit into the whole story.

 4. Pacing:  It’s easier to get a handle on the pacing—which parts are moving too slow or too fast? Where does my mind wander? Would I skip over this section, impatient to get to the end?

 5. Does the ending work? It’s a lot easier to judge whether the story has a satisfying and believable ending when you’ve just read the rest of the novel.

 6. Small things sometimes stick out. In an individual chapter, a detail may seem unimportant, but when you read the story as a whole, you can see where the puzzle fits together. On the other hand, if something small happens consistently, like an oft-repeated word or phrase, a scene too reminiscent of a scene earlier in the story, it stands out.

 One downside of doing a full novel critique is the time it takes. But the feedback makes it worth it. Plus, it gave me a new perspective on critiquing.

 – Andrea

I buy index cards in all different colors. Staples loves me. I’m their preferred customer. (They gave me a tag and everything.)

I know I should be a sophisticated, 21st century writer, but there’s something about revision notes on index cards that I can’t let go.

Right now, there are two purple index cards on my desk. One never leaves my desk. On one side, I write notes on my hook, the short blurb for my book. (I have two sentences so far.) The other side has a list of things to plant in earlier chapters when I revise, the things I’m discovering about my book as I write it: time of year, a special childhood memory of my main character, etc.

The second index card is labeled “Ch 1 crit suggestions.” I went through my fellow MiG Writers’ critiques of my first chapter and compiled a list of 19 revision points that resonated with me. (Yeah, nineteen. Well, the first chapter is the hardest, I hope.)

Armed with both index cards in front of me, I just finished revising chapter one, and I love, love, love the changes I made!

Another great thing about index cards is I carry them in my purse for jotting down ideas wherever I may be. So until I get that iPad (dream on, Kate) it’s index cards for me.

– Kate

For the last month, I’ve been taking an in-person writing class. Part of the class is critiquing each other’s work. Reading work from folks outside of my critique circle and with various skill levels has been interesting. It’s also given me a chance to come up with a list of writing tips.

Here are my Quick Writing Tips (in no particular order):

Don’t open with the weather.

Careful with the metaphors and similes. One or two, sprinkled here and there, add flavor. Too many overpowers the whole entree. (See what I did there? :-0)

Read your dialogue out loud to hear if it sounds natural.

Watch your sentence length; long sentences are exhausting.

Go through and take out most of your adverbs.

Got through and take out most of your “that’s.”

Resist the urge to give us all the background info up front; just get to the action. But….

…make us care about your MC before you throw him or her over the proverbial cliff.

Don’t be wordy. You won’t sound literary; you’ll just sound wordy.

Got a quick writing tip to share?

Right now I’m knee-deep in writing the dreaded S word, so I thought this would be the perfect thing to blog about: THE SYNOPSIS.

What is a Synopsis?
A synopsis is a brief narrative summary of your novel.

Why Put Yourself Through the Agony?
1. Agents or editors might ask you for a synopsis in a submission package
2. This can be a tool your agent could use to entice an editor to buy your manuscript
3. You may be asked to write a synopsis for future books if your agent is pitching a 2 or 3 book deal
4. Can be used for the basis of the back cover of your book or the inside flap
5. Sales or publicity departments may ask to read it to get an idea of what your story is about

How Do I Format This Beast?
1. Use Times New Roman or Courier font
2. Double space if it’s more than two pages
3. Margins should be 1 ¼ or 3.2 cm
4. In the header on every page except the first, have your name/TITLE/Synopsis in the top left corner
5. In the header, put your page numbers in the top right corner
6. On your first page, in the top left corner, type single spaced your name, address, email and telephone number
7. On the first page, in the top right corner, type in your novel’s genre, word count and the word Synopsis
8. Push return two times and center your novel’s title in capital letters
9. Push return two more times and start writing your synopsis!

How Do I Put it All Together?
1. Must be written in present tense
2. Tell the ENTIRE story- Yes, the big surprise ending, too!
3. Don’t get too long- most agents/editors like 1-2 pages for MG and YA stories
4. Use strong verbs
5. No fluff- cut all adverbs and adjectives
6. Stick to the bare facts
7. Start with the problem- your hook
8. Don’t forget your character’s motivations and feelings
9. Character’s names should be in ALL CAPS when you first introduce them

And that’s the basics for you! Did I miss anything? Do you have some great pieces that you’d like to add? I’d love to hear them because like I said, I’m slogging and sloshing through mine in hopes it will sizzle and shine. (You like  my sibilance?)

Yesterday I read an interview with Sue Grafton from the February issue of Writer’s Digest.  Though not an MG or YA writer, you have to admire her for sticking with her alphabet mysteries. She’s now on letter U.  But what struck me about this interview was that like me, she uses a journal for each novel. Mine are also full of “self-talk” about what I’m thinking about and working on. I thought it was cool, because I haven’t run across another writer who uses this process before.

My book-specific journal is especially helpful when I have a sticky plot problem. I use the space to brainstorm possibilities for what could or could not happen, then pick them apart, before I move on to writing. I ask myself questions about my characters, or think about the novel events from the perspectives of non-viewpoint characters.  It also helps keep me motivated—I note how many words I’ve written each day, and that inspires me to keep going. 

– Andrea

I love the joke: Who’s on first, What’s on second, and I Don’t Know’s on third by Abbott and Costello. We’ll that applies to writing! Knowing your characters is half the fun, but knowing the character’s purpose and how they connect to the others in the story is key, too.

In a story, all the characters somehow relate to each other and each character should have a distinct purpose in the story. Your characters should be interconnected and through their actions or reactions, events unfold and the characters grow.

When I wrote my mystery, I really needed a visual to show how and why my characters related to each other- kind of like the game of Clue.

So I created a diagram like this:

Once I had all the characters in their bubbles, then I wrote on the line how the two were connected.

 Looks something like this:

Now as you can imagine, this can get quite complicated, so you’ll need to put it on a big piece of paper. And soon you’ll have lines running all over the place. But it’s a great way to make sure that each character in the story affects the other characters in some way.

Some questions you can ask yourself as you write:
Does every character have a purpose?
Is that character absolutely necessary? Would the story be weaker without them?
Does the character change the direction of the main character in a small or large way?

Because I am so into my writing lately, it’s really hard when everyday life squeezes out my writing time. I need more!  Here are a couple of ideas for how to get some:

1. Stop watching TV.  Stephen King said it and he’s right. But doesn’t watching T.V. help benefit your writing by showing you how to create snappy dialogue, manage your pacing and build tension? Just watch your favourites and cut out the meaningless ones you watch just because it’s on.

2. Go out for coffee. “I’m meeting a friend for coffee” takes on a whole new meaning when your friend Cheryl is your laptop. 

3. Develop insomnia. Why lie tossing and turning if you can’t sleep? I either get up and read or curl up with my writing notebook and see what happens. Sometimes, writing helps me fall back asleep.

4. Blogging appointments. I have to schedule my writing time to fit it in, so why not schedule a time for reading and posting to blogs? For me, time limits are required.

How do you make more writing time?

– Andrea

So I’m busy working on the perfect plot with star worthy characters and a stunning setting. It’s all there. Laid out with precise outlining. So why can’t I write!!!!?????!!!!

Please tell me you’re nodding your head saying, “Yes, this happens to me, too.” I sure hope so because it just happened to me. I’ll tell you why. It’s because my muse went off on vacation right when I’m smack in the middle of my first draft of my novel. (I know, the nerve).

In fact, my muse was gone so long that it took my over a month to write 5,000 words. Not those flying-fingers-across-the-keyboard words. These were the painfully-slow-I’m-never-going-to-finish-this-sentence words.

But I’m here to tell you I’ve survived! (Imagine a room full of cheers and clapping) My muse is back and my story is rocking once again. (more clapping) So how did I manage while she was gone?

Here are some helpful tips:
1. Daydream
2. Go for a long run (or walk if you don’t like to run)
3. Read
4. Chat with a friend to brainstorm ideas
5. Eat lots of chocolate.
6. Be silly

Silly? Yep. I went to some plot generators and found some crazy story ideas. Then I let my imagination go WILD. It’s actually kind of fun and a seemingly waste of time. But what do you know? My muse hurried on back, tan and smiling.

Check out these sites to get your muse running on back to that perfect story of yours:
1. Plot Scenario Generator
I got things like this: “The story starts when your protagonist hides in a closet. Another character is a foreign diplomat who is the most attractive person your protagonist has ever met.” Wow. Now that sounds like fun!
2. Random Plot Generator
3. Seventh Sanctum 

Oh and according to my four-year old, my muse went to Bora Bora. In case you were wondering.

The big buzzword these days in children’s writing seems to be ‘multiculturalism’. What an exciting time! There is so much out there in the world to enrich children’s literature. But I think it’s important to note that multiculturalism is more than just the race of our characters. I’ve lived overseas 10 years and I’m just now getting the concept of it!

So the question is, how do I fuse multiculturalism into my stories? Here are a couple of starters:

1. Food- I love how Jill Santopolo brought in the Italian culture into her story The Nina, The Pinta and Vanishing Treasure through foods and words. Create characters who love fried rice rather than pizza or who crave baklava rather than a chocolate bar.

2. Holidays- There are so many more holidays out there than the typical Halloween or Valentine’s Day. Check out this site to find new holidays for your characters to celebrate.

3. Languages- Try new words or sayings in your stories. Autumn Cornwell had fun with this by having her character learn Malay words as she encountered her adventures in Carpe Diem.

4. Traditions- What do your characters do on important events that show their uniqueness? Do they set shoes by the fire rather than stockings? Are they painting eggs in the Polish tradition instead of the die kits? Do they bow to their elders or take their shoes off at the door?

5. Travel- Get you characters out into the world. Expose them to new settings and see the world with new eyes.

Multiculturalism is so much more than even this. But it’s a start. How about you? Any ideas on how you bring the world into your stories?

Picture at top of post by: Eduard Ionescu

Over on Bruce Black’s blog, Wordswimmer, there’s an interesting interview with Phyllis Root about her writing process that made me think, “Yeah, that’s me” several times. Especially the part about how she says she’s much nicer when she’s been writing than when she’s been avoiding it. 

Avoiding writing?  I am definitely guilty. Even when I’m in the mood to write, and I’m determined to finish my first draft, I still have trouble getting those first few words down. I make all kinds of mental excuses…

 1. I just have to check my e-mail. Yeah right. Like I’m so popular I’ve gotten 15 urgent messages since five minutes ago when I last checked.

 2. First, I need to find that __________. Fill in the blank with the desperately-needed item of choice. Of course, it doesn’t matter what the “thing” is, because it’s not exactly a life or death drama if it doesn’t appear right now during my writing time.

 3. There might be something interesting on ________’s blog. Ahem. Do I really want to waste my precious writing time checking out blogs? Not that I don’t enjoy reading blogs and other writing-related stuff, but there’s a time and a place. And it’s not when I’m about to get started on my own writing.

 4. I’ll just make one call, and then I’ll get started. Except one call takes at least half an hour. Then, by the time I find my story notes, open the file and get my brain going, writing time has pretty much evaporated.

 What do you do to avoid writing? Any tips for making use of the time you’ve set aside for writing to…I don’t know…actually write?

– Andrea