stygianpen

[stygianpen]

Catch me on Medium

Hello Tumblr community!

It's a been a slice, but Tumblr has never really been a place I got comfortable in.

With the amount of platforms I frequent, I am doing my best to streamline a bit, and for blogging, have chosen to go with Medium

I have left a couple of my popular posts up so no one who has saved them will lose them. But aside from that I do hope I see you over on Medium!

<3

[stygianpen]

So you want to write a novel...

Hello, fledgling author! I heard through the grapevine that you’re interested in writing a novel but you’re not quite sure how to start.

Well, don’t worry about that at all — I’m here to help!

Do These 5 things BEFORE Starting to Write

Like anything else in this world, creativity can actually be broken down into logical steps. Sure, at the heart of it you’re going to need great ideas and words that draw the reader in, but these steps will build the foundation for you to grow from. Think of them as an abandoned concrete building and your ideas are the vines growing up and around its walls, beautifying it.

Write down your basic story concept

Plot your novel — at least to some extent

Flesh out your characters

Build your world

Set writing goals

But I don’t even have an Idea yet…

When we think about creating a novel, we’re always hearing about authors who wake up in the middle of the night with a great concept. It’s 3am… their eyes snap open, and in a flurry of notebooks and pencils (because they ALWAYS keep a notebook by their bed) they’ve plotted out the next big Young Adult success.

But what if that’s not you?

I’m here to tell you, you are not alone. If you want to write but don’t have your winning idea — an idea you feel deserves 175–300 pages or more — then just start small.

Well-known authors like Stephen King and George R.R. Martin got their start by writing small. Pick a few ideas that intrigue you, and write short stories about them. I’m willing to bet that by the time you’ve got a handful of them under your belt, you’ll have zeroed in on your Big Idea, without even actively trying.

Just Start Writing!

In the end, the most important thing to do if you want to be a writer, is write. Whether that involves taking the 5 steps to create your Big Idea, or messing about with short stories if you’re just at the experimentation phase. Sitting down every day and writing something, even if it’s just one good sentence, will do you a world of good.

Thanks for stopping by for this little writing chat. I’m looking forward to going more in-depth but hope that this intro was a good place to start :)

I’m rooting for you!

[stygianpen]

World Building 101

World building! How many other hobbies or careers involve creating an entire world all your own? Not many.

There’s nothing quite like setting out to create your fictional world. Drawing maps, deciding which civilizations live where, throwing in crazy kinds of solar systems and vegetation if you’re really going all out… it can be a ton of fun.

However, one of the writer’s most exciting tasks is also one of their most intimidating.

On one hand: you get to build your own world. On the other hand… you have to build your own whole entire WORLD?! Where do you even start??

Well, you can start right here. Today I’m going to walk you through some basic pointers to get your world up and running.

World Building and World Building

Right off the bat, you should be aware that there are two kinds of world building. There’s the large-scale fantasy world building which I will be talking about today, and there is also world building that goes into other story genres.

Every writer is going to do some level of world-building, whether you’re painting a verbal picture of the lake your character goes to to get some peace of mind, pulling a reader into an important event and making them feel like they’re actually attending, or creating a whole new planet for your space pirate to fly to.

The Top 6

When you have a massive task ahead of you it’s always best to start by breaking it down. So, let’s take a look at the top 6 features you’re going to be focusing on when building your world.

WHO

Ask yourself: who lives in your world?Most likely there is a variety of species and races. Or, you could decide on a world where every creature is exactly alike — it is of course, your world.

Do the creatures of your planet have different cultures or are these homogeneous?

It will be easiest to start off with your main characters and work out from there. What is their species and race, and what does their culture look like?

For each species in your world, jot down the following:

Species name

Race names

Physical description

Language

Cultural notes

Special abilities

WHAT

Ask yourself: what social structures exist in your society? Again, start with your main characters and work out from there. For each species within your world, you’re going to need to determine how they manage their society.

What beliefs do they have? Are they religious, or more philosophical? Is there a divide between the two? What do their political structures look like? How strict are their laws?

You’ll want to consider trade and economy as well. Do they have a money system? A barter system?

You may not need to go too in depth with every single species in your world, but you’ll want a basic note or two about each in case it comes up in your writing.

For each species in your world, decide at least one point about each of the following:

Religion

Philosophies

Politics and laws

Economy

WHERE

Ask yourself: where does your species exist?Finally, we get to the physical world of your world building. What is the geography like? The biomes? Is your world bountiful with resources or is it a dying planet with species’ in desperate search of new sustenance?

For some writers, they will take years fleshing out the ‘where’ of their world, including the cosmos surrounding it. For others, a map with the basic locations of the story will suffice. It is up to you how in-depth you would like to go.

At the very least, you should outline one or two notes about each of the following:

Solar system (does your world exist near ours or is it completely fabricated?)

Geography (this one can be split per species — forest elves live in the woods, nymphs live near the sea, etc.)

Biomes (split by species region)

Resources (split by species region)

WHEN

Ask yourself: when do the events of your story occur?The story you are telling may be the main focus of your book, but what happened to lead up to it? What has your main character’s species and world been through that is causing the story to occur? Even if the events of the world do not impact your story much, they will have had at least some level of ripple effect that reflects on your characters’ day-to-day. Was this civilization a warring one and the story takes place in a broken society? Or, has their society reached its peak of enterprise?

For each region in your world, establish the following:

Founding events

Defining events

Recent events

(if relevant) Future events

WHY

Ask yourself: why do the species in your world behave as they do?The why of your story will tie in with many of the previous points you’ve outlined, but it gets more to the point in a way that can directly apply to your story and characters. Why are things happening as they are today? What evolution did this society go through? Do they share common goals now or are your characters going against the grain of their people? What conflicts exist in this world, and is your main character involved in those conflicts or attempting to avoid involvement?

A few pertinent notes to take per species would be:

Social evolution

Societal goals

Societal conflicts

HOW

Ask yourself: how do the species in your world solve problems? In the category of ‘who’, you will have outlined your main characters’ abilities. These could be magical or technological or maybe they are super strong, or super smart. Now, you can get deeper into the magical or technological systems of your world. Start with your main characters and work outwards. Is everyone magical here? Do different species and races have different abilities? Is there a human or human-related race, and at what point are they at with their technology?

Figure out the following (for each species and race if applicable):

Magic abilities

Technological advancements

Scientific knowledge

Militaristic power

The World is yours: Command it

An author with a strong command of the world they are writing within will have at their fingertips an endless landscape of possibility. Look to authors such as J.R.R. Tokien or George R.R. Martin — it’s no wonder their works are so successful. They perfectly encapsulate what fantasy readers are looking for in a novel: escapism. The worlds don’t need to be pretty, they need to be fully formed; realistic in their mysticism.

World-building can seem like a lot of work, and it is. But do it bit by bit, and try to keep it fun. Don’t sit down in one day expecting to create your whole world. It’ll take time. But that time spent will be well worth it in the end!

[stygianpen]

The Self Publisher’s Guide to Editing

Self Publishing is an amazing option for so many reasons. You have total control over every aspect of your publishing process and don’t have to rely on others for approval in many areas — such as deciding if your novel is marketable enough to publish in the first place.

One thing to keep in check when you’re self publishing however, is your budget. When a traditional publisher picks up your work they’ll handle much of the financial end of things and you’ll get a percentage of royalties for your end of the labor. But when self publishing, you’re covering everything, so it becomes even more important to pinch those pennies where you can.

Prior to self publishing OR traditionally publishing, you’re going to have to go through the editing process. But it’s a bit different depending on which direction you’re headed.

While traditionally published books will do best with an experienced editor who understands the current literary landscape and can help your book become publisher-ready, the self publishing writer can have a more personalized approach. And so, the question becomes…

Should you edit your own novel?

Well, right off the bat you are going to have to do some level of editing on your own. You should always proofread your novel and check for spelling and grammatical errors along with plot holes and really meditate on what needs to stay, what needs to go, and what needs to be added that you missed when you review your first draft.

But, after you feel you’ve done enough in those areas you’ll be looking to further content editing, copy editing, and line editing.

While you can do all of these things, the primary benefit of an editor is the outside opinion. It is rare that you will not overlook something in your own work because you are simply so close to it! But if you are alright with that sacrifice, then let’s chat about how to edit your own novel.

Content Editing your own novel

Content or developmental editing focuses on the big picture elements of your story and plays a large role in manuscript development. It addresses such things as plot holes, character arcs and pacing.

Plot holes

This is one of the areas in which an outside eye can help. If you do not want to hire an editor though and still have that outside eye, you can reach out to a beta reader or two to do their thing and give you some general feedback.

To find plot holes on your own, I recommend using the read aloud option in Word or getting a text to speech app on your phone so you can hear another voice dictating your story to you. This will allow you to detach a bit and view your novel from a reader’s point of view.

Plot holes can actually be quite the gift if you’re looking to expand your novel’s length — fixing them builds opportunity to explore your world even more!

Character arcs

Lucky for you, there are plenty of resources online about character arcs. While you don’t have to follow a pre-set pattern to a tee, these tried and true methods work for a reason and are likely to help your novel succeed through birthing relatable characters.

If your character is set to have a transformational act, make notes through your novel of when the following points occur:

Inciting incident

Call to action

Defining moment

Awakening

Moment of enlightenment

Death experience

Transformational moment

Climax

Resolution

If you are missing any of these points in your character’s arc, see if you can work it into your novel. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the change it brings about to the novel as a whole!

Pacing

The percentages in this method have been especially useful to me personally as it makes the entire process of pacing quite mathematical. If your opening image and theme building up to the catalyst is 50% of your novel for example, you need to edit that down.

For even more connection with how to pace your novel, check out thesebeat sheets of familiar films where you can see Save the Cat in action.

Copy Editing your own novel

Where content editing may result in expansion of your novel (especially when fixing plot holes), copy editing is for tightening up your work.

Find your trouble words

Let’s start off right away with ‘trouble words’. As defined by Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing these are:

a lot/alot

affect/effect

can/may

further/farther

good/well

i.e./e.g.

into/in to

it’s/its

lay/lie

less/fewer

that/who

their/they’re/there

then/than

who/whom

your/you’re

If your eye catches on any of these, wondering “wait… I thought those meant the same thing” then you’re not alone. You’ve just found your trouble words!

Of course by no means does this include all trouble words, but it’s a good start. Personally my trouble word (as I’m reminded of regularly by my editor) is ‘led’. I just can’t stop writing ‘lead’! 😅

Find your crutch words

What words do you use over and over again? I’m constantly saying ‘a little’ in my writing. Once you listen your words read aloud you will REALLY pick up on these. Locate them, and do something about it. You don’t want your novel to sound clunky and repetitive. Another good tip is to make sure you’re not using the same word in the same sentence or even paragraph. This is called ‘tautology’ and is jarring to the reader.

Thesaurus.com is out there, and it exists purely for your use. So use it!

Check for consistency

Do you spell a particular term differently every time you use it? You’re going to want to make it uniform. Words such as daycare often wind up switching from day-care to Day Care to daycare all in the same novel!

Other words that are commonly inconsistent include:

Organise/organize

Centre/center

Focussed/focused

Recognise/recognize

Analyse/analyze

Pick one, and stick with it! And of course, make sure you’re sticking with one voice and tense as well. In some cases, a switch can be pertinent to the story, but make sure if you’re doing this it’s intentional and you don’t leave in any accidental switches.

Additional Tips

Before this becomes an entire course, I’d like to list in point form a few more suggestions for your copy editing process. If you’d like to see more blogging on copy editing, please leave a comment below saying so!

Remove adverbs that weaken your copy (When I finish writing I snap my laptop shut. I do not shut my laptop quietly.)

Choose positive over negative (After reading this I want you to keep each point in mind as you edit. Another blogger may not want you to make any editing mistakes as you revise.)

Check transitional phrasing to see if it’s necessary (in order to, begin to)

Line Editing your own novel

Working sentence by sentence, line editing takes a deep dive into your prose, focusing on how to use language and communicate with your reader. Sound similar to copy editing? Not quite.

Line editing is the most meticulous of your three major novel editing types as you are looking at small pieces of your writing rather than larger concepts and errors.

Before starting on any editing, it’s a good idea to let your book rest a bit as another way to detach from the words you’ve put down on the page. After a couple of weeks or a month you can get back in there and tear things up!

Check for passive voice

While this can be applied to copy editing, it’s perhaps an even more useful check to do as the first step in your line editing process. Best of all, there’s an app for that making this a minimally daunting way to ease into your detailed edit.

Grab that Thesaurus

This is it friends — if you were keeping an eye out for tautology and crutch words in your copy editing process you can get rid of every last one of them through line editing. Grab your thesaurus or head to Thesaurus.com and tighten on those lines. By the end of your line edit every paragraph should be wonderfully unique from the one before it.

Grab your Dictionary, too

Did you throw a word in thinking it would sound good, but if someone asked you to define it you’d mumble your way through? Make sure you know for sure what you’re saying in every sentence.

If you’ve done your job right, when you finish your line edit, your novel will be consistent and concise while retaining its creativity!

Invest your time or invest your money

When deciding whether or not to do the full edit of your self published novel, it comes down to what you’re able to invest: time, or money. Now that you’ve had a glimpse into the world of editing, you can see why editors charge for their services and how valid that charge is.

There are many things in the literary world that you can do yourself, and this is one of them. But you do risk sacrificing quality, experience, and that outside viewpoint especially if you’re new to the game.

Should you choose to edit your novel, all the power to you! It’s a commendable choice and I'm behind you 100%.