Writing Lessons Learned

So. Yes. Once again, rather a long time between posts... what can I say? Life is hectic.

I haven't been writing very consistently of late - I'm noticing that my periods of blog-silence generally correlate rather neatly with the times when I'm not getting any writing done. Which makes sense, I suppose, since if I'm not writing, I have nothing writing-related to post about. And if I'm not making the time to write, I'd rather I wasn't making the time to write about not writing, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, despite the very small progress I've been making on the writing front, I have learned one or two things recently.

It really is easier if you write every day.
I know it's said all the time, but I'm seriously growing to recognise the truth of this. If I skip a few days, a week, a fortnight, then when I finally get round to actually sitting at the keyboard I've lost all sense of who my characters are and where they're supposed to be going. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if I were writing short stories, but it isn't just the story itself that I lose track of - it's the actual writing. Words fit together much more easily if you're making it happen regularly.

If I plot, I have to plot every scene.
With the first novel I finished, it was pantsing all the way for me, until about 20K from the end when I hit a solid stone wall and found I had to figure out what was going to happen before carrying on. With this one, I actually plotted out the bare bones before I started. As I've gone along, I've found myself planning additional scenes - and having to plan them before I write them. Not intensively by any means, but if I don't have a sentence or two describing what needs to happen then I can't seem to write the scene. They've crept up on me, and developed from the story as I went along, but once they pop up they have to be plotted. I'm finding this rather baffling, since I've always considered myself a pantser or discovery writer. But when I realised a few days ago that there were two days in my story timeline that needed to be filled, I was incapable of writing another word until I'd figured out what had to be accomplished in that time and how I was going to do that. (I ended up with five extra scenes plotted.)

I need to be more flexible about my writing time.
One of the reasons I've been writing so little lately is that I'm travelling all the time. I like routine - I like being at home and being able to get up in the morning and shut myself in my little room that nobody else uses just to write. But when I'm staying with other people, I don't have my own little room. (I have somewhere to sleep, obviously, but since my husband sleeps later than I do as a rule it's not an ideal place to write in the morning. I need to try and make the time later in the day - perhaps in the evening - to creep away to a quiet corner of the house I'm staying at and write. Otherwise I keep coming back to that first problem and not writing for days.

In other news, I was delighted to learn recently that Will Write For Wine is returning to regular podcasting from October 9th. This is a fantastic show - thoroughly entertaining and always useful. There'll be a new podcast each month, and you can help influence what Lucy March and CJ Barry (AKA Lani Diane Rich and Samantha Graves) talk about by posting in the forums. I can't wait!

Writing Resources

I'm still waiting on feedback for my short story, and in the meantime I'm getting on with typing up my edits on my NaNo 08 novel - which still hasn't got a title. I'm not even close to one. But anyway, it means there isn't really much to tell you, so instead I'm going to talk about writing resources.

As I'm still working out my process (and I hear that's something that can go on indefinitely) I like to try out new things from time to time, and here are a few of the sites, programs and other resources that I've found particularly useful.

Software

• yWriter 5. This is a completely free piece of software which I've found works really well for organising longer pieces of fiction. It allows you to create chapters and scenes, with individual notes for each if required, helps you build character bios, allows you to generate a timeline for your story and keeps you on track by letting you know how many words you've written that day. (As I'm editing at the moment, though, this isn't always a good thing - yesterday my word count was minus 1500.)
• SuperNotecard. Another free piece of software (although you can upgrade to the full version for $29), this is great if you like your 3x5 index cards. It allows you to group and move around notecards on the screen, so it's great for plotting and outlining. It has a number of other features I haven't quite got round to exploring yet - for example, factors, which look like they allow you to create relationships between cards.
• Evernote. I only downloaded this yesterday, but already it looks like it's going to be really useful, especially for keeping research notes together. I was sceptical until I actually tried it, since although I've heard lots of good things about it nobody had really explained what it does clearly enough for me to quite grasp. Essentially, it allows you to take 'clips' from whatever you're looking at or working on - a webpage, an email and so on - and save them to what's called a notebook, so that all the pieces of information relevant to one topic, from whatever medium, are available to you in one place. As well as being downloadable software, you can also access all the things you've saved straight from the web - so you don't even need to be at your own computer to bring up all those important bits of research.

Websites

• Remember The Milk. Okay, so this one isn't strictly just for writing, but it's been invaluable to me since I started using it a couple of months ago. Essentially, it lets you create to do lists - so for example, I have one list for work, one for personal stuff, and one for writing. You can schedule tasks for a particular due date, give them a priority level, and set them to recur. Currently I have 'Type up changes' on my writing list as a task which occurs every morning, and every weekday evening. I get so much satisfaction from ticking things off lists that sometimes I'll add things I've already done, just so I can hit the 'Complete' button. It's really helped me to organise myself - so if you're a bit absent-minded, like me, give it a try.
• Books And Such Literary Agency Blog. This is a fairly new addition to my favourites, but there's a lot of really good information here. At the moment they're doing a Kiss of Death series of blog posts - to quote, "The phrase “kiss of death” is shorthand for “Uh-oh, that writer has just stepped off a precipice.”" It's a very interesting look at some of the things writers can do wrong in their careers!
• BookEnd Literary Agency Blog. In another great agency blog, Jessica Faust's posts are very honest and fair, and always fascinating to read. She often answers questions which have been posted, and I haven't yet seen a post in which there wasn't something I was really glad to have read. Well worth checking out.
• Genreality. Another blog, but this time from the author's side. There are six bloggers, each of whom have a different day to post, and they all have interesting insights into the writing world. (I'll also point you specifically to this post, which is what prompted me to try Evernote.)
• Will Write for Wine forums. Writing can get lonely sometimes, but there are lots of other people in the same situation. If you can join a writers' group in your local area, then do it - but if not, there are hundreds of communities for writers on the internet. This is my favourite, which grew out of the fabulous Will Write for Wine podcast (which I'll get to in a minute). If you're looking for somewhere to find other writers, and especially if you also have a fondness for wine, Joss Whedon and procrastination with online games, then come on by and say hello. We're currently in the middle of our May Marathon, where we're all trying to psych each other up and get on with some writing, so now's a great time to join.
• Duotrope's Digest. Particularly good if you're writing short stories, this is a fantastic resource - a huge database of markets for your work, which lets you search, browse and find the publisher or magazine you're looking for really easy. It also allows people to track their submissions, and from that generates helpful information about which markets have a higher acceptance rate, how likely they are to give you personalised feedback and how quickly they respond. Really invaluable.
• How to Think Sideways with Holly Lisle. This is the writing course I'm currently working my way through. I have to mention it, because although I'm only eight lessons in it's made a really huge difference to my writing. I really do feel as if I'm learning a lot more as I go along - not just about the craft, but also a lot about me, my process and how I work best. And I'm definitely running into some surprises there. It's really spurring me on, and if you are looking for a course, this is well worth checking out.

Podcasts

• Will Write for Wine. Although sadly this podcast has come to an end, there are around sixty programmes in the archives. Presented by Lani Diane Rich and Samantha Graves, the podcast covers a huge range of publishing and writing topics, and is filled with useful information, as well as being highly entertaining. Definitely worth checking out.
• Writing Excuses. This one's really great when you don't have much time to listen, as each episode is only fifteen minutes long, which means that it's almost pure information. Although it's mainly aimed at writers of science fiction and fantasy, there's a lot of great advice in there for any writer.
• I Should Be Writing. First started when the podcaster, Mur Lafferty, was entirely unpublished, listening through the archives to this and following her journey is fascinating. As well as her own thoughts on various writing and publishing issues, Mur also posts regular interviews with other authors.

Fun Links - I'm not going to explain these ones. They really just have to be seen to be appreciated...

• Peter's Evil Overlord List
• Write or Die
• Tom's Glossary of Book Publishing Terms
• Fantasy Name Generator
• Plot Twist Generator
• Random Book Title Generator
• Editing Letter