Planning a Sequel

Still no title decision for my diary novel, though I have many in mind and am trying to narrow the choices down. But just last week I began writing something to begin a sequel to the diary. I haven't gotten very far on that one, though, and have only written it in a notebook. I tend to do it this way because it's easy to do when I'm in bed, and that was when I did it 🙂

Have any of you planned a sequel for an unpublished book? How common is it to do this? My reason for wanting to do a sequel is that I had some ideas in mind for my protagonist that I think would work better as a second book, rather than trying to cram all the storylines into one book. The first book still in progress is all about the protagonist dreading getting braces. For the second one, he is dreading becoming a teenager (more to come on this). Those seem like two separate storylines that could be written and told in two books. 

I know that you need to write more than a recap of the first book when beginning a sequel, though I did begin that way and will go from there to lead into the main storyline.

How to Avoid Writing Clichés

From Writerslife.org:

It can be pretty tough to write an entire novel without slipping into certain clichés. However, there’s not much that will turn your reader off faster.

Clichés tend to interrupt the flow of the story and show an absolute lack of imagination and creativity from the writer. If you are trying to get a publishing deal and your book is full of clichés not only in your writing but also using a clichéd idea, no publisher is going to bite.

It’s not easy to avoid writing clichés altogether, and often we use them without even noticing we’re doing so. So how can we weed them out, or better still prevent them entirely?

Here are some helpful tips:

Don’t steal other writer's ideas

Some plots have just been done to death. They have been written and rewritten so many times it’s almost impossible to avoid falling into the trap of a cliché if you choose to focus your story around them. When writing a book, your idea needs to be unique. Make publishers, editors, and most importantly your readers sit up and take notice of something that hasn’t been done before.

Avoid being overly sensational.

There is a myriad of moving subjects to choose from when writing a book, and lots of great books have murder, car crashes, bombs going off, wars, descents into madness and so on as part of their plots. However, these sensational subjects can be challenging to write without falling into clichés.

This doesn’t mean you can’t tell stories that include these elements. But when you do, pay particular attention to your writing and be alert for any clichés that may appear.

Make the ordinary extraordinary.

One good way of avoiding clichéd writing is by turning everyday events and occurrences into beautiful, unique, unusual, life-changing adventures. It’s more of a challenge, but by focusing on smaller, more unusual things that happen in everyday life, or taking something that we are all familiar with yet making it suddenly breathtaking or extraordinary is a great skill to have as a writer.

Tell your story the way you want to.

No one can tell your story or share your experiences the way you do. If you continue to write clichés, it suggests that you are not being honest with yourself. You have a unique perspective and an original voice, tap into that, use it instead of borrowing from others or retelling a story that wasn’t yours to tell in the first place.

Be authentic

Clichéd writing often becomes that way because it’s not true to real life. Try to avoid injecting your book with melodrama where it’s not necessary. You’ll only end up creating a story that doesn’t resonate with an audience and lacks the authenticity necessary to connect with your readers.

By using the tips above you can eliminate clichés from your writing and create powerfully original stories that really are entirely different than anything else.

Just how different can each person get? And just what constitutes stealing other writers' ideas? As some of you may have seen on my blog I felt I was doing just that when I chose to write about depression. But then, that's something different people face differently. That, I learned, is how someone shows their own voice.  This is how writers are unique. Some things are bound to be similar in different works, but each one stands out from the author's voice. I'm sure everyone will agree with this. 

Also, I sometimes ask myself what expressions can be considered cliched. My memoir writing instructor said "the nail in the coffin" is an example of a cliche, which should be avoided in memoirs. I asked once on my blog once if "making  big deal out of nothing" sounds cliched (I used that one in the memoir).

I try hard enough to make my story sound like my own ideas, even if they have been used before.

How Much Should You Cut?

Another point in the link 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Fiction I'd like to comment on is this one:

2. Cut!
So, you can write a 1000 page book? You can. Sure. But, should you? Being wordy gives you a surefire shot at rejection. It is not about showing off your English vocabulary. It is about using only those words that the story needs.. Read your script; see if the book actually requires those 1000 pages of material. In most probability, you would have only 600 pages of the essential story and the rest of unnecessary words hanging here and there!
Rationalize. Remember an unedited story is an agony for readers. They are reading till the end of your story just to know what happens in the end. So make each section of your story an acceptable experience for the readers. As a writer, ensure you don’t go the routine way of information over feed. The audience wants to be entertained and not instructed and jaded. Make sure you send out your crispest version to literary agents and publishers. Nobody has the time.

This came up at the writing session I attended last Saturday when one of the women conducting the session saw how thick the manuscript of my memoir is. She says something of that length would result in immediate rejection. Though FYI, it is only 321 typed pages. If I was told to type 1000 pages, I'd be panicking! One of the things I dreaded about having to write papers in school was the length dictated and/or the number of words the instructor indicated. Even today, when I can write about whatever I want, the idea of typing 1000 pages seems daunting. It seemed difficult enough to get over 100 pages, let alone 300 or more. 

NowNovel says the following about manuscript editing:

Cutting Words Isn’t so Hard. No, Really

Cutting thousands of words from your manuscript seems daunting. Having to cut tens of thousands of words can make you want to curl up in a ball and cry, but it’s much easier than you think.

Let’s look at what “cutting words” means:

When is a manuscript “too long”?

A common “too-long” manuscript is 120,000-words, roughly 480 pages (based on the traditional 250 words per page format). You can cut 4800 words if you delete just ten words per page. Ten words is nothing—it’s one sentence in most cases, and even in polished and published novels you can still find one sentence per page that can go and not lose anything. Cut twenty words per page and that’s almost 10,000 words gone with little effort. A 150,000-word novel? 600 pages, and 6,000 or 12,000 words gone. Cut thirty words—18,000 words down.

Working with words-per-page is much more manageable because you can trim consistently across the entire novel, not just certain sections.

Step One: Decide how much you want to cut

You might have a fixed number in mind, such as 90,000 words, or a sliding scale, such as 80,000-90,000 words. You could also decide to cut in stages, taking out half of the target and then seeing how the manuscript flows before doing anything else.

Step Two: Decide Where it Needs the Cutting

You can trim most manuscripts overall, but some will be heavy in one area and need specific trimming. Looking at the novel’s structure is an easy way to determine where the extra words lie.

Using the basic three-act structure, write down the word count of each act. (Feel free to use whatever structure you prefer and just adjust your percentages to fit your structure.)

Act one is the first 25% of the manuscript, the second 25% fills the ramp up to the midpoint in act two. The third 25% is the ramp down in act two from the midpoint, and the final 25% is in act three. So, if your manuscript is 100,000 words, you’d have four chunks of 25,000 words in each. At the end of each act, you’d have a major plot turning point.

Remember—these guidelines aren’t exact, but if (using the above example) you discover the first act is 35,000 words, but the rest fits your target word counts, there’s a good chance the beginning is too long. Then you should cut your extra words from there.

A 10% variance in section size is fairly normal, but anything beyond that needs a closer look. If you decide an act is working even though it’s longer, that’s okay. The goal is to use structure to diagnose and identify potential trouble areas, not force your manuscript to fit a particular template.

Step Three: Cut down the manuscript

Now comes the tough part, but you can do it. Take it step by step, page by page, and be ruthless. If your instincts are telling you what needs to go first, trust them.

Tricks to make manuscript editing and cutting words easier

If your words-to-cut number is daunting, it might help to trick your brain into thinking it’s not as bad as it looks:

Do the easy cuts first: Empty words, empty dialogue, unnecessary tags—cut all the words that commonly bloat a novel first. It is often surprising how many “only” “just” and “of the” a novel has.

Cut back to front: If you’re cutting words-per-page, start on the last page and work your way back. Not only will this keep you from getting caught up in the story, it won’t adjust the page count and cause you to cut more words from the front than the back as the novel tightens and becomes shorter.

Cut one chapter at a time in a new file: It’s a lot easier to hit that goal when you can see those words dripping off. And a bonus: by isolating the chapter, you can look at it more objectively and judge the pacing and flow.

Cut one act at a time in a new file: Same principle, just with more pages. This helps ensure you apply cuts evenly throughout your novel.

Set time limits on your cutting sessions: The longer you edit, the more likely it is you’ll let something slide because you’re tired and want to move on to the next part. Take a break between editing sessions and avoid this temptation.

Now I'm not sure how this would apply to editing a memoir,  though I'm sure even those require some editing and cutting as far as the length of the manuscript goes. 

And right now, I'm trying to decide what to do with the diary novel in terms of the length. Some have said it's long enough for a kids' books. It's currently 100 typed pages. Not a a lot to cut out. 

What Makes You a Copycat Writer?

Today I came across this post:

7 Writing Mistakes to avoid in fiction

One point that I want to comment on is this one:

4. Copycat

After the Harry Potter series many writers, all of a sudden, began writing stories with magic as a central premise. After the Twilight series, every other manuscript that landed on a publisher’s desk was about vampires. Don’t fall prey to a seasonal topic.

Never ever copy other authors. Yes, you can be inspired by some writers; the way they use words, the way they bring about twists and turns, but be original! You are different and that is the sign of uniqueness. If readers feel your writing is similar to “……..”, it is not a matter of pride; it means “You are just one of them!”

Ensure you are inimitable, distinct and matchless in every sense and you will have a winner in your hands!

This was I felt I would be doing when I got the idea to write about my experience on Prozac. It had already once been famously written about, and I felt I was just copying the author. But those around me convinced me that this was not true, since i would be telling my own story. In this blogpost, the author writes:

I’m glad Wurtzel wrote this book, because now I  don’t have to. Years ago, a book about my life would have closely resembled hers, as far as the inspiration meter. Low. ...

This was kind of what I had thought at first, that my story would sound too similar to what had already been told. The blogger could have easily written her story. Though I'm not sure how the "copycat" rule applies to a memoir.

Now that I have been writing a diary novel, does that necessarily mean I'm copying others that have been published? It wasn't any one such book in particular that made me want to write this, just the format itself. I wanted to try writing that way.

Have any of you writers felt this way?

It's Just One of Those Things...

1. Stuff/Things

Keep an eye out for ‘stuff’ and ‘things.’

You probably depend on these words when you’re unclear of the specific descriptive noun for the situation–a post title such as 4 things successful entrepreneurs do every morning, for example. 

Or, maybe you use ‘stuff’ or ‘things’ when you want to keep your tone informal and conversational. For example – Can you please do this post editing stuff for me?

But, if you’re in a business environment, the informality of these words will make you sound unprofessional. 

If you use these words excessively in your blog posts, then it’s time to replace them with more accurate and expressive diction.

Don’t expect the reader to spend extra energy to extract the exact meaning behind your writing. Content abound on the web and it’s easier for them to just close tabs and find another blog post that holds answers their questions faster and more efficiently. 

If ‘stuff’ or ‘things’ run rampant in your blog posts, consider using one of these replacements, based on the context. Strategies, reasons, points, concepts, aspects, elements and principles are all solid, more precise words. Here are 10 more alternatives, by Speakspeak.com.

The blog from which I obtained some of the info presented in the last two posts also mentions this point. I'm surprised this did not come up at the writing group I attended last Saturday in one capacity or another. 

Though the blog talks about blog posts, I'm sure the same is true of all writing. Nearly every time when I've edited my memoir I see the words "thing(s)" or "something" quite frequently. I'm now surprised that the woman at the group who'd observed how much passive voice I'd used didn't see how often I had used the words "things," "something," and such. This could easily have prompted such a discussion. 

As with the alternatives to "very...", I'm not sure how many of the phrases in the graphic above I'd ever feel compelled to use. I guess it would depend on the context. Though off hand, I can't see many instances where some of the suggested words would fit the context of what I have written. This si going to take a lot of work. ...

Seems "Very" Hard to Do

Another thing that came up at the writing session I attended yesterday was a brief exercise in writing. One lady in the group discussed imagery, and those in the group each read lines from the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost, stopping to discuss the images depicted:

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them.

But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay

As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,

And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed

So low for long, they never right themselves:

You may see their trunks arching in the woods

Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground

Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair

Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

But I was going to say when Truth broke in

With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm

I should prefer to have some boy bend them

As he went out and in to fetch the cows—

Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,

Whose only play was what he found himself,

Summer or winter, and could play alone.

One by one he subdued his father's trees

By riding them down over and over again

Until he took the stiffness out of them,

And not one but hung limp, not one was left

For him to conquer. He learned all there was

To learn about not launching out too soon

And so not carrying the tree away

Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise

To the top branches, climbing carefully

With the same pains you use to fill a cup

Up to the brim, and even above the brim.

Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,

Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.

So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be.

It's when I'm weary of considerations,

And life is too much like a pathless wood

Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs

Broken across it, and one eye is weeping

From a twig's having lashed across it open.

I'd like to get away from earth awhile

And then come back to it and begin over.

May no fate willfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away

Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:

I don't know where it's likely to go better.

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

(What do you see?)

The group leader than had those in the group write about the most stunning thing we saw that morning, trying to avoid the passive voice. Here is what I came up with:

It shone from afar, as the tourists were glancing at from behind the mission. It was hard to see what areal appears from where I was standing. The hill glowed very green from what I could see.

The instructor insisted that the word "very" was unnecessary in this passage. At home yesterday, I then saw this:

How often do you writers out there find yourself using "very" and how often do you ever use any of the word suggested in the chart above? Some seem a little out of my league of thought.  It would not occur to me to use some of these words without reading a blog post such as the one from which I obtained the graphic. I now see myself going over my manuscripts and trying to find how many times I used the word "very." Again, I'm not so sure how many of the suggested words I would dare use. 

When to Use the Passive Voice?

Today I attended a meeting for writing that I had only learned about two days ago. I went with another of the mentors at the center where I work. Not every many people were there.  

I'd brought the current copy of my memoir and let one of the ladies skim through it. She gave me mostly positive feedback for what she was able to read. But she did say one thing that got me a little anxious--that a lot of my story was in passive voice. My friend said she too has trouble with that.

The image above comes from this site.

I can imagine how hard it must be for people to avoid the passive voice. And I'm getting anxiety over the possibility of having to go over my entire manuscript and make everything active. There have to be some instances in which the passive is all right to use. This is the first time anyone indicated this about my memoir.

How many of you have been told this about your writing?