Setting Writing Goals

Every November, a month of literary madness ensues, in which would-be and actual novelists attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That this is doable has been more than proven by thousands of writers, me included. Some people can write 50,000 words in a week or less. Those who write the required number of words win the coveted NaNoWriMo "Winner" badge to post on their websites, blogs, Facebook, etc. It's a goal with an incentive: bragging rights.

Still, that's just once a year. What about the rest of the months? What do you do when there's no NaNoWriMo to spur you onward? And what if you didn't actually write The End on your November opus?

NaNoWriMo gives you a goal. You aim for 50,000 words in a month. Having that goal is what makes it doable for some people.

What we as writers need to do is set writing goals for ourselves when it isn't November (or if we aren't WriMos). With NaNo, the goal is set for us. If we aren't used to setting goals for ourselves, deciding what to set can be a challenge. Here are a few guidelines to help you in setting your goals.

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• Your goal should not overwhelm you.
• Don't set something so impossibly high that you'd have to be a superhero to accomplish it. Very few people can write 50,000 words in a day, for example. I know of one prolific author who actually can write 30,000 words a day, and in two or three days, he has another finished novel. He's amazing. Not everyone can do that. If you can, great! Set that goal and stick to it. If not, don't beat yourself up. You are unique!
• Your goal should be challenging enough to keep you interested.
• If you set a ridiculously low goal, you may either write that number of words in a day and then quit (bad when the story is coming together well), or you may think that you can skip several days. Neither is good for you. Set your goal high enough that you can accomplish it, but not so low that you get bored.
• Find a group of like-minded writers and share goals with them.
• Writing groups are a good place to start, either online or in person. Be sure it's not the kind of group that's going to pick you apart. You need to be encouraged, not discouraged. And be sure you encourage the others in the group to reach their goals!
• Decide whether you can write every single day, or if you should write on a five- or six-day schedule.
• Be realistic. Only you know how many hours of writing time you can squeeze into a week. 
• Be sure to make allowances for emergencies. Having a small notebook with paper and a pen can help when you're called away from your computer suddenly. (I've written in hospital waiting rooms this way.) You can always transcribe what you've written into your document later.
• Set a realistic time goal.
• I finally set my mind to write one hour every day. While circumstances sometimes interfere, having this goal makes me sit down and open the work in progress. I've gotten more done since I set the One Hour Goal than at any other time except for NaNoWriMo. Some days I've only managed a few words (generally because I'm rereading to get the feel of where I left off), but other days I've written a couple of thousand words. That's a great feeling!
• If your time is so limited that you can't do one consecutive hour, set a timer for fifteen minutes, or whatever you can squeeze into your schedule.
• Consistency is the key to accomplishing your goals.
• Once you've set them, stick to them. Don't let everyday problems distract you. (Yes, if the kids are trying to tell you something important, make sure they aren't injured, but then get right back to work.) 
• If you're consistent, you'll be writing "The End" before you know it! Then you can start the next work while you put the first one aside to cool. (This is important so that when you reread it, you can do so dispassionately, the way an editor would. Otherwise, you'll either think it's perfect and dare anyone to change a single word, or else you'll think it's horrible and want to delete the file! Don't do it!!!!)
• Remember, back up all your documents. You can e-mail it to yourself at the end of every writing session. That way, you'll be able to retrieve it in case of disaster.

Goals are not the enemy. Used properly, they can be one of your very best friends!

What are your writing goals? Please feel free to share them with me! We'll cheer each other on!

Tackling Anachronisms

As a reader, I love entering the past. Letting go of the modern world, losing myself in whatever time frame the book is set--what a delight! I can completely forget the complexities and annoyances of the twenty-first century, unless----
-------SCREECH! CRASH!---------
I'm suddenly catapulted out of the past by an anachronism.

What's an anachronism, you ask? From the Greek ana not and chron time, an anachronism is a reference to some word, object, character or the like that doesn't belong in the story's time-frame. It can be something simple, like referring to the hero's cell phone, when the hero is living in 1977, or having a totally fashion-conscious heroine of an 1880 romance wearing a bustle.

Eliminating anachronisms from writing can be tricky. Half the time they sneak in without our even realizing it. Sometimes our proofreaders don't catch them. The editors can miss them. In fact, we may never know we've used one until the first letters from readers arrive. And readers can be really irate!

Some I've run across lately include using the honorific Ms. in historical novels before the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Ms. first came into more common usage. Finding a heroine referred to as Ms. Smith in a book set in the early 1900s throws me right out of the book. That's not to say I won't go back and read it, anyway, especially if I like the characters and the plot, but it makes it harder for me to let go and enjoy it the way I would if the heroine were Miss Smith before her marriage and Mrs. Jones afterward. (Or whatever the surnames are. You get the point.)

Honorifics should be easy. Something a little trickier is wildlife. I'm currently reading a mystery novel in a series set during the American Civil War (AKA the War Between the States). One of the two main protagonists was in a graveyard when she was startled by a flock of starlings. She wasn't as startled as I was! The first mating pair of European Starlings was brought to the United States by some misguided soul in 1891 or thereabouts, some thirty years after the novel was set. Now if the author had had the protagonist startled by a murder of crows, I wouldn't have put the book aside until I recovered from the experience.

Sometimes anachronisms are the result of our forgetfulness. We simply don't think about whether or not something was available or invented by a certain time, and even doing basic research may not reveal it to us. What can we do about it? Read books that were written in the time period, if available. (Obviously, it's harder to get hold of a novel written in Old Norse or ancient Greek.) Check into wildlife books, flora as well as fauna. (I still smile when I think about the American Robin in the 1960s movie "Mary Poppins." That isn't truly an anachronism, but a related faux pas.) If you can find them, read wildlife books from the time frame in which you are interested. Over time, migration patterns and nesting areas can change. Species that are extinct now may have once been prevalent, like the American Passenger Pigeon.

Technology is another bugbear. Yes, there were clocks in the Middle Ages. No, they did not have minute hands. And forget about second hands! Different parts of the world developed at their own pace. You might find steel swords in one part of the world and iron swords in a neighboring kingdom.

Hey, nobody ever said writing historicals was a walk in the park! It's a challenge, but if you're up to it, you may find it a truly rewarding one.

It isn't always easy to research the past on the internet, but it can be your first stop...on your way to the library!

Yourtown Directory

Whether or not you're planning to write a series, having a phone directory for your characters and the places they shop can be handy for you. Think-about your town's phone book. It will not only have the name and phone number, but also the address, the town (if it covers more than one metropolitan area), and sometimes the zip code. While I don't advocate using something that could be an actual phone number (in case anyone ever gets hold of your directory), the ever-popular prefix 555 can be a substitute that won't get you in hot water with real people.

You may want to divide your character phone directory into categories, just like the real thing: White Pages for home listings, Yellow Pages for businesses, Government Pages for things like City Hall, the Fire Department, Police or Sheriff's Department, etc. You can get as creative as you wish, but you don't have to get elaborate. This is just a guide for you, the writer. I do suggest putting letters in (A, B, C, etc.) for the surnames, and, just like a real phone book, put Surname first, followed by First & Middle names or initials.

I've started one for my small town where I hope to set a series of books. I have all of the above. My "Yellow Pages" aren't yellow, but I did divide the business listings from the personal listings. I scoured my manuscript, and every time I ran across a new name, I listed it in my directory. (That's one neat thing: you don't have to worry about having unlisted characters!) That way, they're there for future reference. I also added surnames for just about every letter in the alphabet, so I have plenty of room to be creative in adding future characters.

While you're in the process of creating your town or city is a great time to start a directory. However, if you already have several books in your series, it isn't too late. It may be a little more time-consuming, adding in the characters and their addresses and phone numbers, but it will help you in the long run.

Happy world-building!

World Building

When we got one of our older computers (longer ago than I care to remember!), it came with a fun program called "Sim Town." Using this game program, I could build little towns with schools, fire stations, police departments, roads, houses, shops, parks, and all kinds of neat things. I miss having it to play with.

However, as writers, we can invent as many towns and cities as we like. For my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) book of 2007, I revisited a small town I'd invented for a script back a while and never forgotten. Set in the southeast corner of Arizona, not too far from Benson, Tombstone, etc., it's in an area where we have spent a lot of time, so I was already familiar with the topography, climate, flora & fauna.

So, if you write, what do you do when you're inventing a town? Do you write about something that could fit into the area where you live, or into a place where you've taken lots of vacations? Do you put it someplace impossibly romantic, like Ruritania or Lissenberg, fictional European countries?

Over the next few blog posts, I'm going to recount a little of what I've been doing to help me create continuity, so that when I write more than one book set in the area (I'm already writing another one), I won't make any serious mistakes, like giving the heroine's best friend black hair when she's a blonde, putting the diner across the street from the gas station when it's closer to the hardware store and marshal's office, or forgetting which direction from the main part of town you have to go to reach the school and the airstrip. Hope you enjoy!

Do You Blog Every Day?

It has come to my attention (through reading books on the subject, etc.) that the blogs with the largest readership are the blogs with continuous new content. I've added sidebars with changing info on this and my other web pages (including the ones I manage), but still, the idea of having to write something every day just seems wrong.

It takes blogging out of the realm of the fun and jams it firmly into the domain of work. It turns it into a daily column. Not a work of art, but a work of necessity. And this (most often) without pay, a volunteer position.

How many of us have something interesting to say every single day? And, if we do, how many of us have the chutzpah to post it online, where anybody in the world can read it? If I stopped to think about how many page hits I get, would it make me blog more or less? And does it really matter?

Today's blog is only interesting if you're a blogger, I think. Tomorrow's blog: well, that should be something completely different!

Rewriting the Synopsis

Did you ever hear the one about "the best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley?" (Robert Burns, and you'll notice the famous title lifted from the line of his poem.)

Version Two of the synopsis was better received by my critique partner than Version One, but she still had plenty of suggestions to make it, and the novel, better. So, it's off to rewrite land to start over.

First things first. My cp advised me to start with a character sketch of the heroine, leaving out nothing important. I had left vital information about her until later in the synopsis, which affected the flow of timing and pacing. By putting everything pertinent about her into the first paragraph, I eliminate the need to mention things later, and the reader (editor) will know that the story is character-driven.

After the heroine, describe the Hero. (Unless you're writing something other than romance...male oriented action/adventure may not even have a heroine.) Everything that makes him who he is should be put on paper right at the beginning.

Then get into the story. Make sure the pacing is right. I had the Hero & Heroine admitting they loved each other on page three of the synopsis, which looks like it's halfway through the book, even though it doesn't happen until the last chapter! My cp's advice was to make it clear that it happens near the end, so that the editor won't think things are going too smoothly for the protagonists.

In addition, my cp had some wonderful suggestions for the story itself. We brainstormed a bit, and now I need to do some rewriting on the novel as well. All in all, it shouldn't take too long to fix, and it will improve the book. That, hopefully, will also improve its chances of selling!

In conclusion: if you're working on a synopsis, make sure you get all the important character information in first, and then leap into the storyline. Make sure you really care about your characters. If you don't care about them, no one else will!

Happy writing!

Hitting Your Target Market: Taking Aim

Do you have a target market for your novel? If so, you're ahead of the game. If you're scratching your head and saying, "What's a target market?", read on.

Writing a novel isn't easy, as you may know from experience. However, selling that novel once it's written can be even harder. Getting a book published can be compared to archery. If you just shoot a lot of arrows into the air without aiming at anything, you may hit something, but will it be what you really want to hit?

Just like archery, if you have a target, something at which to aim, you'll come closer to hitting it and getting where you want to be, i.e., published. Market research isn't always easy, though. Where do you begin? How do you find out who is publishing what?

A good start is Writer's Market. They have a new edition every year, and have even started issuing specialty editions dedicated to Novel & Short Story Writing, Children's Writing and Illustrating, and Poetry, among others. In addition, you can join their online website. For as little as $3.99 a month, you will have access to all the latest marketing information, including changes of personnel at publishing houses.

Another good place, if you're looking for a cheaper alternative, is to check into the individual sites of publishing houses. Many of them have guidelines for writers that will tell you how to submit (or whether you can submit without an agent). Browsing their catalogs and reading what they publish is the best way to get a feel for what each house handles. You wouldn't submit a tender inspirational romance to a publisher called Hot & Heavy, Inc., or a western to Future Worlds, Ltd. (Not unless you enjoy wasting postage, time and energy, that is!)

Once you've found your target market, the place where you aim to get published, start reading. If you (like many of us!) can't afford to buy everything they have out, go get a library card (if, by some unlikely chance you don't already have one). If the publisher has more than one line, especially in genre fiction, read at least one book in each line, preferably more. Find the line that reaches out and touches your heart. That should be your target line. Read the dedications by the authors, and the "thank you" pages. If they mention their editor by name, take note. You are seeing what an editor likes by what is published.

If a particular publishing house says they accept only agented works, don't waste their time and yours by sending them anything. You'll only be branding yourself as a novice who hasn't done your homework.

In conclusion, finding your target market may be hard, but it is definitely worthwhile. If your manuscript doesn't quite fit, you may want to consider putting it aside for a while (I know, I can hear you screaming how long it took you to write it---been there) and writing something that is perfect for the line. Once you are published, dig out that manuscript, reread it, polish it, even rewrite it if necessary and ask your editor (who by now should be your friend) to have a look at it. If you're willing to do the work, getting published should become inevitable!

Happy hunting!

May or Might--find out for sure!

I've had such a good response from the Commonly Confused Words page on my website that I've decided to tackle a few more little grammar bugbears that can make writing difficult to understand.

Conditionals.
More people seem to have trouble with conditional verb usage than any other form. May and might are used interchangeably. Lay and lie are likewise confused. There are scores of others, but we'll start with these two samples.

The problem:

May or Might: which one should you use? To find out, try them in sentences.

• You may have been killed!
• You might have been killed!

OK, the response to the second is, "But I wasn't killed. I'm okay."

The response to the first could easily be, "Oh, my goodness! Was I killed?"

In determining which one to use, may or might, first determine the time and intent of the sentence. Is it something that, if it happened, makes the question possible? Does it make sense?

The fix:

When in doubt about whether to use may or might in a sentence, substitute can and could. That translates the above sentences to "You can have been killed" and "You could have been killed." Obviously, unless you're talking to a ghost or a vampire, you wouldn't tell someone that they can have been killed.

The problem:

Lay or Lie: If you've been brought up to believe that to lie is only to prevaricate or tell an untruth, then let me introduce you to a better definition.

• I'm going to lay down.
• I'm going to lie down.

In the second sentence, I realize you're probably tired and want a nap. In the first sentence, I want to know what you're going to lay down.

The fix:

Again, using synonyms for the words in question can get you out of a sticky situation where the reader may misunderstand you. A synonym for lay down is put. A synonym for lie down is recline.

• I'm going to put--- [Famous sample, first line of "Down By the Riverside:" "I'm gonna lay down my burden..."]
• I'm going to recline. [I can almost see the recliner now, can't you?]

The problem:

Set and Sit: often confused because they're similar, short, and sound alike.

• Set down and rest a spell.
• Sit down and rest a spell.

(Yes, I know the examples are Southern. I'm in the South now.)

The fix:

Using synonyms will help you out of the jam. Set=put. Sit=be seated.

• Set down that bag of groceries and rest a spell.
• Be seated and --- no, I'm sorry, folks just don't often use be seated in conjunction with "rest a spell," but you get the idea.

Check back soon for more commonly confused verbs!

Writing small

Have you ever written an ultra-short story? I hadn't either, until I discovered the Micro-Fiction Contest held at Residential Aliens. It's quite different from writing a novel, or even a regular short story, which usually run anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 words. In Micr0-Fiction (at least as done by Residential Aliens), your word count limit is 100, not including the title and byline. Talk about writing tight! If you're interested in a quick challenge, give Micro-Fiction a try! The top ten entries will be published in the October issue of the RA site, and the top two will win e-books by Donna Sunblad.

Book Review: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING AND SELLING THE CHRISTIAN NOVEL by Penelope J. Stokes, Ph.D.

Since writing Christian fiction is a goal of mine, having passed up the dreaming stage to the point where I'm actually working on it, finding this book at the library was like finding a handhold on a rock face when you're halfway up the mountain.

Dr. Stokes not only edits Christian fiction, she writes it as well, so she gives the reader both viewpoints. She begins with a definition of Christian fiction as accepted by the CBA, i.e., evangelical fiction, mentioning notable authors of fiction whose viewpoint is Christian but may not be evangelical, such as Madeline L'Engle, Richard Kienzle, C. S. Lewis, and others. She continues with an ennumeration of the types of Christian fiction, including romance, prophetic action/adventure (I don't think she labeled it that, exactly!) such as the Left Behind series of Dr. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and the truly scary and wonderful books of Frank Peretti, Christian fantasy, etc. (It would be easier to write this review if I hadn't had to turn the book in yesterday!)

This book has a nuts and bolts approach to writing. Dr. Stokes dissects the writing process, and shows you how it's done for today's market. She gives the reader insightful techniques to polish and perfect their writing. This book would be useful even for writers of non-Christian fiction.

One extra plus: at the end of the book is a checklist with chapter headings, reiterating the points she made in that chapter, where the reader can analyze his or her motivation for writing, check off plot points, work on characterization, and make sure the book is moving in the direction it started. On a scale of one to ten for useful tools for writers, I'd give this one a ten!

Moving to a New Location

Moving is never easy, even when it's on-line. However, since I discovered that my former blog location didn't allow comments except from other members of the site, I was already considering it. Then today, I wanted to put a post on a member's site here at blogger and discovered that she wasn't allowing posts from just anyone, so that did it!

It will probably take some time before I'm fully moved in over here. In the meantime, you can find my previous writing blogs at Hope Chastain, writer's blog. As moves go, I think this one won't be so bad.