Posts

Posted on

Everything I needed to know about writing I learned from my Dad’s level

When I was a little girl, Saturdays were my favorite day of the week, because Dad took me to the hardware store. Never a man without a project, Dad and I strolled the aisles and picked out all the uber-cool and necessary items. Back home, he let me watch him build.

Even as an adult, Dad helps me builds projects around our house: corner benches, window seats, entertainment cabinets, wainscoting, and more. I’ve often thought about tackling carpentry projects myself, but I’ve always been afraid his gifts of patience, precision, and measurement didn’t pass down through the genetic pipeline.

Until last week, that is. I gulped hard, then set about transforming a small, unused closet in my son’s room into a book nook, complete with a seat, shelves, and trim. As I worked, I couldn’t help think of how similar building and woodworking are to the craft of writing. So, here for you today are the top ten applicable things I learned:

1) Borrowing ideas from others is a compliment. I found the book nook idea at my favorite DIY blog. I copied some of the ideas, but ultimately, the project quickly became unique to my home and my son’s personality. Application: Don’t be afraid to consider how to tweak popular (even Shakespearean) story lines into your own masterpiece.

2) Sketch out a plan. I drew sketches with all my ideas and at all sorts of angles. This really helped when I took it to the hardware store and explained my ideas to Mr. Friendly-But-Skeptical-of-a-Female-Builder in the blue apron. Application: Plot and outline. And know that girls can build, too.

3) Take time to measure. And measure again. I measured most boards at least three times before cutting them. Even so, I had to take some pieces back to the saw for additional trimming, because of angles I hadn’t anticipated. Application: Research. And research more. You may not need all the research you gather for your story, but it’s better to have too much than not enough. You can’t make a piece of wood longer, after all.

4) The level never lies. My Dad always spends more time leveling than he does nailing and drilling. As a young girl, this seemed like a waste of time. Now, with one (fairly) successful project under my belt, I understand how one unlevel board can ruin the whole project. Application: You can never fact check or edit too much.

5) Shims come in handy. A side board which supported the nook’s seat wasn’t level. I added a shim to the low end to make it right before I drilled the seat plank on. Sitting crooked wouldn’t be much fun. Application: Take time to smooth out and adjust your prose.

6) Sometimes you have to yank out a bent nail. I stink at hammering. Should be the easiest part of a project, right? Not for me. I’m hammer challenged. Inevitably, at least a few of my nails bend, and I’m tempted in frustration to just hammer them in anyway. Sideways. Application: Don’t be sloppy. Take your time.

7) When stuck, ask a master for help. Switch projects for a moment: Last winter I painted my kitchen yellow. Three times. After the first two shades came out neon and lemonish and all wrong, I bawled like a baby knowing I’d have to paint the whole room a third time. I called my Dad. We knocked it out in a couple hours. Application: Read and talk to established authors. They help get you out of writing ruts.

8) Wood putty and spackle are my new best friends. For holes. Dings. Bent nails I hammered in anyway. Application: Edit.

9) Sandpaper makes all the difference. Application: Edit some more.

10) Invest in a good paintbrush. The final touches of a project are when I’m most tempted to take shortcuts. I’m tired of looking at the mess. I just want to get ‘er done. But alas, these are the moments which make a project shine. I found out the hard way that using a crappy paintbrush when applying high gloss paint to cabinetry looks plain awful. Application: Don’t skimp before hitting the send button. Edit again.

Yes.

One.

More.

Time.

What about you?

What ways do you find real-world experiences help you re-frame the writing journey?

What’s your most handy advice? 

 

Posted on

God’s Goodness in the Rearview Mirror

What a strange sticker, I thought to myself as I glanced at the rear window of a small car sitting in the lane next to me at a red light. At first glance, the sign was illegible because the words were backwards. The sticker had been applied on the inside of the window rather than the outside, as it was designed to be displayed. But as I focused more intently on the words and read in reverse, I realized the sign read, “God is Always Good.”

For a moment, I wondered why the petite, middle-aged woman driving the car would have applied the sticker improperly. Surely she recognized that other drivers would have a difficult time reading the awkwardly displayed sign. But as I gave the scenario more thought, I realized she hadn’t applied that sign to her window for other drivers. She had placed the sign there for herself. It was positioned slightly off center so it could be seen (and easily read) every time she glanced into her rearview mirror.

I felt an immediate sense of kinship with this unknown woman. I too have experienced seasons in my life when I needed visual reminders of God’s goodness. I taped “[God] works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will” (Ephesians 1:11) on the dashboard of my car when I received a letter from yet another publishing house saying, “Your study is well written, but we aren’t accepting new Bible study authors at this time.” I wrote “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) on my bathroom mirror when my heart was broken over a tragic loss. I’ve even written Scripture passages on my hands when I was feeling particularly down or discouraged.  

As the traffic light changed from red to green and we drove in different directions, I lifted up a prayer for this mysterious woman who chooses to keep God’s goodness ever present in her rearview mirror. I would imagine her focus upon the goodness of our God will give her the strength she needs to make her way through whatever challenges she encounters on the road of life.

You may not want to paste a sign on the rear window of your car, but during seasons of disappointment or trial, I encourage you to write Scripture that testifies to God’s goodness and faithfulness in prominent places around your home, in your car, or at your workplace. You’ll find greater strength and courage for whatever lies ahead in your writing journey.

What passages of Scripture encourage you most when you are feeling discouraged?

Posted on

50 Shades of Grey: To Read or Not to Read

Okay, I will not really talk about whether or not you should read one of the most controversial books published in 2011. If you want to participate in that discussion go here. I will say that I read the first third of the first book and skimmed the rest of the first book. I asked my husband if I could read it before I started, and I talked to him about what I read as I moved through the book. I say that because I want to provide a context—I have at least some experience with 50 Shades of Grey. I really want to discuss how Christians can produce books as compelling as 50. I think we might start doing that by trying the following, but I would love to hear your thoughts as well. I’ve included a lot of questions. Feel free to offer your thoughts in the comment section below.

  1. Writing Well. In the article I linked to above, Michelle mentions that she chose not to read the book because her friend did not like the writing. Honestly? The writing needs improvement. Sure, the plot moves forward, but language and fully developed characters don’t drive the book. Shouldn’t Christians produce books that compel readers to keep reading based on the beautifully written language? Shouldn’t the plot make readers want to stay up late reading under the covers with a flashlight? Shouldn’t the setting feel like home? Or if it’s an uncomfortable setting, shouldn’t it make the readers feel the tension within that particular place?  What about the main characters? Shouldn’t they feel like life-long friends?
  2. Incorporating Strong Male Characters. Christian Grey, the protagonist in 50, has a dominant personality that makes females swoon. God set up the marriage relationship with the male as the head of the wife. Obviously, that does not involve abuse, but God created the idea of headship as attractive. I love romance books (Christian or otherwise) because I swoon over a strapping male willing to make tough decisions and come to the rescue. How could you incorporate a strong, sexy male character into your novel while remaining tactful? What sort of tact is necessary in a Christian romance novel, specifically regarding the male protagonist?
  3. Incorporating Strong Female Characters. The female protagonist in 50, Anastasia Steele, doesn’t just accept what Christian has to offer in a relationship at face value (at least in the first book). She fights him on the particular details of their relationship with which she feels uncomfortable. How can you make your female characters strong in their character and conviction? Should a female character confront her husband in a novel if he makes a poor decision? What if the male that she is confronting is just a boyfriend? How do the relationship dynamics differ, and how can you keep both types of relationships interesting so that readers want to keep turning pages?
  4. Discussing Controversial Topics. Even the secular community startled a bit when they discovered 50 Shades of Grey. I doubt it would have been as popular without the controversy. Should Christians be writing about controversial issues in novels, as well?  If so, should those issues be resolved biblically, or is it okay to show that a bad decision was made and to then reveal appropriate consequences for that bad decision? As with anything, you need to pray about the decisions you make in your writing.
  5. Writing About The “S” Word. Who doesn’t like to hear about a spicy relationship between a man and a woman? How would you choose to write about a man and a woman who are in a courtship or dating relationship? How do you write about a man and a woman in a marriage relationship? How do you balance being tactful but also keeping the spice going? And, finally, should Christians only be able to include kissing scenes in their novels, or will characters ever be able to go beyond first base?

What other ideas can we glean from controversial books that sell well?

Posted on

A Brief History of E-publishing, Pt. 2: The Rise and Fall of the Rocket Ebook

Nuvomedia’s Rocket Ebook

Sometimes the difference between success and failure can be merely a matter of timing.

Back in 1998, many electronically published authors (me included) were saying that print books would soon go the way of the dinosaur. As far as we were concerned, it was only a matter of time.

E-books were the wave of the future.

The reason for our optimism? A hot new product called the Rocket Ebook.

When e-books first came on the scene, the only place you could read them was on a computer screen. Not many people had laptops back then, so if you wanted to read an e-book, you had to use your desktop computer.

Unfortunately, most people’s idea of curling up with a good book didn’t involve sitting in an uncomfortable chair and squinting at a monitor.

I was an e-published author, and even I didn’t want to do that.

But when Nuvomedia introduced the Rocket Ebook in 1998, electronically published authors around the world danced in the streets. Okay, maybe we weren’t quite that ecstatic, but many of us did feel that this was the beginning of a revolution in publishing.

The Rocket Ebook was the very first dedicated e-reader to hit the market.

At a price point of about $250, the Rocket came with a whopping 4 megabytes of memory (expandable to 16 megabytes!), and (Are you ready for this?) it could hold up to 10 regular books and up to 4,000 pages of text! It was about the size and thickness of a Stephen King paperback (although a little heavier). As icing on the cake, it had a back lit screen.

I just knew that as soon as the reading public got wind of the Rocket’s existence, people would rush to their local electronics store to buy them, and a tsunami of e-book sales would follow. In the long term, print books would gradually fade from the scene.

As you might have guessed by now, it didn’t quite work out that way.

So what went wrong?

There were many factors, but I think mainly the Rocket was a great idea whose time hadn’t come.

The Rocket Ebook hit the market at a time when Palm Pilots and PDAs were the hot, new technology. These little devices put the Rocket at a disadvantage. PDAs could multitask. They could keep your appointments, contacts, notes, and so on.

They could also read e-books.

So why should I invest big bucks in a bulky, heavy, dedicated e-reader, when my trusty Palm Pilot can do that and more?

There were other issues.

Putting books on the Rocket wasn’t particularly convenient. You had to connect it to your computer via serial port to be able to download, add, or remove books.

And finding content wasn’t a picnic, either. Big publishers were just beginning to get on the e-publishing bandwagon. Thus, there weren’t as many books by “name” authors available as e-books, and those that were available were often priced the same as the print version.

The reading public definitely wasn’t ready for a non-physical product that cost as much as its hardcover counterpart.

And looking back, I don’t believe the reading public was ready for the idea of e-books in general. For most people, they were more of a novelty than anything else. And while some people might read one out of curiosity, most still preferred to curl up with a “real book.”

And so the Rocket limped along for a couple of years, but never found a market. In 2000, it was sold to RCA/Gemstar, and they made some modifications—including adding an internal modem that would connect to a cyber-bookstore—in hopes of gaining a market share.

Sadly, it was too little, too late, and the Rocket Ebook faded into obscurity.

When it did, I began to wonder if all the optimism about e-publishing had been a pipe dream. With the Rocket’s demise, would e-books also go the way of the dinosaur? After all, now we were back to reading at our computer screens.

Thanks to advances in technology, and an up-and-coming seo consultant company called Amazon, the answer to that question would be a resounding no. But there would be a long bumpy ride before the Kindle arrived on the scene.

I still have my Rocket, but now I use it for “show and tell” at writers conferences when I’m speaking on e-publishing.

It also serves as a reminder of how fickle the marketplace can be.

It reminds me that sometimes the difference between success and failure can be little more than a matter of timing.

*****

Next month: E-books:The Era of Optimism

Posted on

The 15-Minute Writer (part two): 5 Ways to Get Organized

(Read part one of the series here.)

Are you having trouble writing because you can’t see past the piles of books, Post-it notes, and paper on your desk?

Trust me, I’ve been there. I’m a pile-r by nature, a fact that has frustrated my  husband–and me!–more than once.

If you have limited time to write, though, getting organized is absolutely essential. After all, you don’t want to waste precious minutes you’ve scheduled for writing on finding lost items–or clearing your messy desk.

So here are my top five organizing tips for busy writers:

1. First, figure out your organizing personality. For example, don’t try to use notebooks if you’re not a notebook person. If you love technology and abhor piles of paper, go paperless. Hate Google calendar? Admit it! Don’t try to fit yourself into someone else’s mode. It doesn’t work in the long run. If you’re visual, you might need a big bulletin board or calendar on the wall in your writing area.

2. Set up a system you’ll want to use regularly. Why spend time on something if you’re going to dread it? If you love bright colors, use them in your file folders.  Play your favorite CDs when you’re going through receipts—or watch a funny movie while you’re organizing your calendar and notebook.

3. “Backwards plan.” I learned this handy phrase when my husband took a church administration course during seminary. It’s been invaluable for both of us. Here’s a short explanation of the BP process: Take a deadline (or set one for yourself) and mark it on your calendar. Then take all the tasks you’ll need to complete in order to meet the deadline—interviews, outlining, writing a rough draft, revising—and decide how much time you’ll likely need to complete each one. Then plan backwards, setting yourself mini-deadlines.

4. Set aside a few minutes of each writing session for de-cluttering. You need time to delete old material, back-up files, tame paper piles, recycle books, and throw out trash–or you’ll be on the way to auditioning for Hoarders. Once you’ve gotten organized, five minutes a day is do-able and will go a long way toward keeping your desk, computer, and writing space organized. Believe me, once you make this a habit, you’ll be glad you did!

5.Use OmmWriter. (Thanks to writer Duane Scott for this fabulous tip!) He said, “It blocks out all distractions (email, social media, chat messages, etc…) and provides you with a completely white screen with only a blinking cursor. It also offers different peaceful backgrounds and music to accompany your writing. Another great feature: you can set it to have a manual typewriter sound effect when you type.” The cost for all this? A one-time fee of $4.99.”

Your turn: what are your most effective organizational strategies? I’d love to hear them!

Posted on

One of the One

Unseen Journey to Publication
Curves Ahead

It was not an encouraging statistic.

On a cool fall day, the speaker stood at the front of the seminar class and eroded my confidence with his authoritative words, “About one percent of writers succeed in getting published. Because most give up and drop out of the race.”

I’d waited until my forties to do anything with a secret desire to become a writer, so his gloomy prophecy almost made me run from the room. Thankfully, I didn’t let his statistical shadows deter me.

A Shadowy Path
Shadows Crowd the Writing Road

Instead, I silently inquired of God, whom I believed had brought me to this place, and asked what He thought about the publisher’s statement. The answer came as a whisper, “With Me, all things are possible.”

At that starting line in my writing career, I vowed, “I will allow God to make me one of the one percent who succeed.” Little did I know how I’d need my early resolve to navigate past future bumps in the writing road.

Writing Path with Obstacles
Obstacles Litter the Road

Practical applications were required to pave the way.

  • I devoured books on the craft of writing, the business of publication, the magic of marketing, and the art of building a loyal readership. (I’m still studying these necessary parts of the process.)
  • I turned off my television, powered up my computer, and started practicing what I learned.
  • I created a Writer’s Cave and pursued my passion.
  • I faced my Fears and wrote in spite of them.
  • I followed God’s lead when I wasn’t sure where to invest my talents.

    Hard to Know Where Your Writing is Going
    The Road to Writing is Often Unclear

I determined to follow and not race ahead of God.

  • When impatience threatened to devour my energy and time with tangled emotions, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that God controls my dream.
  • I sought God’s kingdom first, before the allure of writing success. Each day, I committed to read my Bible before I wrote anything.
  • I submitted my desires and said, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
  • I trusted God, as the Creator of Time, instead of sweating it when I couldn’t accomplish as much as I believed I should.
  • I wrote down encouragements, so when hardships threatened to swallow me, I had factual reminders that God created me to write. I kept the list close and read His positive reinforcements as needed.

Over time, the hours of study, priority-driven choices and submission to God smoothed the course. But I endured many personal trials along the way.

One shocking revelation brought the news that my dad isn’t my biological father. My youngest sister faced life-threatening illness. My grandson was hurt. Every day, circumstances fought to distract, but in between the upsets, I tenaciously wrote one word at a time. While I traveled tough terrain, I held onto my God-given mantra — I will be one of the one.

Cloudy Writing Days
A Straighter Road Under Cloudy Days

Eventually, the road to becoming one of the one straightened. My portfolio of articles grew, my speaking platform rose, and my writing improved. As I obeyed His voice, God cleared the way.

I’m steering toward my goal of being in the one percent of writers who succeed at their craft. My first book releases in 2013. Growth will span my lifetime, but I refuse to give up. If God says I can be one of the one, then who am I to argue? After all, He put me on the road to writing.

What gives you the gumption to speed ahead in pursuit of your dreams?

Posted on

Profits from Back-of-the-Room Sales

Let’s be honest, most work-horse writers cannot make a living by advances alone. However, if you combine writing with speaking and profitable back-of-the-room sales, look out! Writing, speaking and book/product sales is a true triple whammy, each avenue supporting the other. Each leg of this career stool brought in roughly one-third of my income.  Here are some ideas for a money-making book table.

Bundle or Bag ‘Em

Bundle items into gift bags. For example, I would put my humor books for moms in clear gift bags with a pretty sheet of tissue paper and call it “Laughter Rx for Moms.” I created another bag I called “Smiles for the Stressed-Out Soul” that included my books on slowing down and thriving. People want to give their friends some tangible love, so selling your books in gift bag form makes them instantly ready to share.

Something for the Kids

I wrote four books for young kids (Gabe & Critters)  and five “first chapter” books for ages 7-11 (Camp Wanna Banana). Moms and grandmas love to buy something for children. I found darling finger puppets, cute plastic “bookworms,” and small plush spider monkeys that tied in with the books’ themes. The eye appeal of colorful items surrounding the books proved irresistible. It took time to find items that were lightweight, small, fun, sturdy, and profitable. But when I did, books flew off the children’s section of my table.

Offer a Bargain

In what I now view as a great business opportunity, two of my books went out of print. I negotiated to buy a literal truckload of them for 72 cents each. I bought 10,000 books and filled up an empty guest room, wondering what in the world I had done. However, I sold every book by offering them “2 for $5.00” to retreat attendees. A profit for me, and a great deal for them. The event planner put a coupon in the retreat bags for this “special bargain,” ensuring a rush to the book table.

High Profit Items

I quickly discovered that women wanted to take my “retreat talks” home or share  with a friend. So I had audio CDs made of my talks and called them “Girlfriend Getaway.” I sold four talks for $15.00. My investment in the CDs (including case) was only $3.00 each. Many speakers create their own workbooks or study guides to go with their books and make a nice profit.

Mention in Your Talk

I am turned off by speakers who hawk their books like an infomercial. I’ve found it much more natural to say, “In my book, Worms in My Tea, I told a story about a time when …”, then simply tell the story.  People would always show up at the table asking for the book that contained the story I told.

The More Books, Higher Profit

The greater the variety of books you have on your table, the higher the profit; however, you don’t have to author all the books you sell. If you refer to books by other authors in your speeches, negotiate with a publisher to buy them in bulk at a good discount and sell them on your table. Or sell other product-tie-ins. If you wrote a cookbook, you might sell adorable aprons. If you teach writing classes, you might offer pens and blank journals that have fun literary themes.

Information Sheet for Event Planner

In a packet of information that I would mail ahead or email to the event planner, I included a Book Description Sheet. It had the picture and title of each book with a one or two sentence description below it. This would help volunteers get quickly familiar with the products. Always ask for at least two volunteers to help with the book table, giving them free books as a thank you. After you speak, women will want to chat and have you sign books, so having others take care of the money exchange is essential.

Bookmarks

Create a cute bookmark to be tucked into the books you sell on your table with information leading to your website, other books, etc.

Signs & Set Ups

I typically only put about ten copies of each book on the book table at a time, re-filling it from a box under the table as they sold. Make clear concise signs to prop up on your table that clearly show the price of your books. Go for visual clarity rather than cuteness. And be sure to take credit cards; it greatly increases sales.

I hope these tips prove helpful to you and increase your profits as you speak and write. Feel free to ask me any questions.

What advice do you have for other authors to help sell their books?

 

//

Posted on

Sense Is Worth More Than You Think

Taken from http://www.clker.com

Imagine a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies just pulled from the oven. Is it the sight that makes you drool, the buttery sweet smell, or the anticipation of the warm chocolate gooiness spreading over your tongue with the first bite? The correct answer is all of the above.

God gave us five senses (doesn’t that spa look like an awesome get away after a day of writing?) that work in harmony. If you really want to connect with your reader, you’ll do the same. In each scene, your goal should be to incorporate as many senses as possible.

Let’s say you’ve got your character sitting out in a field. What might you describe?

Smell

Basswood blooms wafting on the breeze are a sweet fragrance. In fact, there are a lot of great aromas floating about in a field. But if you really want to poke your reader and leave a mark, don’t forget unexpected odors. Descriptions that twang a reader’s senses are what they’ll remember. In the case of smell, what about a surprising gust of vinegary sauerkraut? Who’d expect that? It could even play into your plot, throwing in a sideways twist.

Hearing

Birdsong. Bugs buzzing. A breeze shushing through the leaves. Those are all common sounds, but there are other, more obnoxious noises that are every bit as common. What about airplanes drowning out a conversation or construction workers banging away in the background? Even idyllic places have jarring sounds, and these make your story more realistic.

Sight

This is the number one sense that most writers nail without effort. The trick here is to weave in a little genuine humanity. In the case of the field, you can certainly wax verbose about wildflowers and rolling hills, but to really make it memorable what about the discarded water bottle out in the middle of nowhere? We’ve all seen it. Or maybe a WalMart bag peeking out from the bottom of a shrub. Not pretty, but definitely real.

Feeling

The sun heats your skin, and a gentle breeze tempers that warmth, but don’t forget about the prickly thistles that stick to your pant legs, then latch onto your fingers like unrelenting Velcro when you try to pick them off. Touch isn’t just about pleasant feelings. Remember to connect with the uncomfortable aspects of life.

Taste

This is most often seen as, “She ate a strawberry” or “He slugged back his coffee.” Nice action, but that doesn’t tell the reader a thing about how those items taste. Describe the flavor. Is it so sweet her teeth hurt? Sour enough that he wants to rip out his tongue and wipe it on his sweater? Taste can also be compared to a happy or sad memory. Puckerlicious lemonade always makes me think of my grandma’s front porch. Or have your character absolutely hate a food that most people love, making them more notable. After all, doesn’t every writer want their characters to remain in a reader’s mind long after they’ve closed the book?

This week challenge yourself to incorporate all five senses into your writing. It’s an easy investment that will pay off by connecting with your readers at an intimate level.

 

Posted on

The Invisible Writer

Great fiction writers create new worlds.  Going to another world requires a cultural assimilation program, at the very least. To live in another world, even temporarily, requires isolation from the here and the now.

Having a personal creative space is a dream come true for most writers. On days when everyone else is attending a baseball game or what have you, the solitude of being an author sets in. It sometimes entails turning down a few invitations, because creating a new world takes focus, time and energy.

Writers’ needs and preferences run the gamut. Conrad Aiken wrote in his dining room. D.H. Lawrence liked to write outdoors, under the trees. Some authors like to write in hotel rooms, as Toni Morrison did when her children were young. A hotel affords privacy and the opportunity to limit interruptions for days at a time.

Some writers don’t seem to need privacy. They can retreat into the recesses of their own minds and vanish in plain sight. A legendary Parisian café, Les Deux Magots, has hosted great writers such as Jean-Paul Satre and Albert Camus. They generated content right in the restaurant.  French author Nathalie Sarraute once said that a café “is a neutral place, and no one disturbs me – there is no telephone.” A café allows a writer to feel less isolated. They can be alone while in a crowd, blending into the background. They are physically present, but their minds are busily creating all the while.

Writers also may tell you that they can’t disappear into their writing without the use of props. Only a specific pen, type of music and particular shirt will do. Therefore, the idea of a writing place is psychological in nature. That equates to whatever the writer needs to feel comfortable.  In his 1951 essay “Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena,” British psychologist D. W. Winnicott wrote, “It is in the space between inner and outer worlds, which is also the space between people—the transitional space—that intimate relationships and creativity occur.” With that in mind, perhaps the best answer about finding a writing haven is from a quote by Ernest Hemingway: “The best place to write is in your head.”

Where do you go when you disappear? Do you have a writing haven or can you write in plain sight?

Posted on

Top 5 Self-Editing Tips: Intention

In my first post last month on the topic of the Top 5 Self-Editing Tips, I covered in detail how a novel is structured and how you can be more aware of how to build the structure of your novel.

This month, let’s concentrate on an aspect of self-editing that writers rarely hear much about:  intention.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines intention as “(1) a determination to act in a certain way: resolve; (2) import, significance; (3) what one intends to do or bring about.”

The definition of intention includes other topics, but for our purposes, we can examine the synonyms for intention and determine how we might find intention in a piece of writing, whether fiction or non-fiction. Synonyms: intent, purpose, design, aim, end, object, objective goal.

Once you finish your first or second draft, ask yourself, “Did I fulfill my overall intention for writing this piece, and did I achieve my intention in each scene or section?”

Whoa! That sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? You might be thinking, how long am I supposed to spend on an edit? The answer: as long as it takes. Because if you have not fulfilled your intention in writing your book, then how can your reader know what you were trying to say?

Let me make this a little simpler by starting with a chapter or even a part of a chapter. Did you intend to make your character unsympathetic in this scene? If not, then you have not communicated the soul of your character to the reader. You have not fulfilled your intention. The reader might even think, “Marsha would never say that. Why is she being so rude?”

On a greater scale, your story or your non-fiction book should have an over-arching aim or goal. It is the road that connects you to the reader and pulls the story along. Yes, even a non-fiction book is more successful if it tells a story that persuades your reader to believe in what you’re writing about.

Your road will twist and turn in a novel, but you, as the author, should always keep the goal in mind. You don’t want to tell your reader up-front what your intention is, but you should know where you’re headed. If you take readers down a rabbit trail and nothing of significance happens, they will soon stop following you through the brush.

Only you know what you want to achieve in your book. If you’re leading your reader down a “road less traveled,” the trip may be leisurely or it may zip along. You may travel on a super highway, on a country lane filled with potholes, or you may walk with your reader down a garden path.

But if you veer off that highway/road/path just because you have a sudden inspiration, your book may be filled with pointless arguments (non-fiction) or characters who pop out of nowhere to deliver a useless piece of dialogue (fiction).

My intention in this post is not to say that plotters are better writers than pantsters. You can write your book as you please, but if you know your beginning and where you aim to end—intention—then the journey will be that much sweeter.

To be continued…

How will you self-edit your novel or non-fiction book to make sure your intention is clear and that you have achieved your goal in every chapter?