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Monday Music: Straight No Chaser - Ruined Disney songs

11/19/2018

Hm, you know what we haven't had enough of lately? Acapella music. Straight No Chaser is always delightful. This song was another favorite from when I saw them in concert last summer.

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Josephina's Guide to Magic For Kids--Part Five

11/14/2018

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Part One
Two
Three
Four

Josephina didn’t want to take any chances, but as the four of them walked down the streets, it seemed like her magic was holding. She glanced in the direction of the shadows every now and then, and no one was looking back at them.
She wondered where they would find the first item on her list: food. The idea of these things shopping at grocery stores, eating at cafés, or even making bread at an old-fashioned bakery seemed bizarre to her. But there was much more to work with here, and she was certain she could manifest something. She just wasn’t sure how well her invisibility magic would hold if she attempted other magic on top of it.
“Follow me,” she whispered to the others. Without breaking rhythm, she guided the others away from the main streets, down to darker alleyways where no one else could see them. There, she went to the first door she could find, and focused on what she needed to find.
“I smell something good,” Benny whispered.
“Excellent,” Josephina whispered back. “Keep thinking about it…”
Behind the door was a small bakery, and on the counter were loaves of fresh baked bread. The shadowy woman behind the counter had her back turned. Josephina crept forward and grabbed a loaf of bread. Raven stepped forward to do the same, followed by Bonnie.
Benny, however, didn’t move. He was frozen, staring at the woman behind the counter. Raven gestured for him to hurry and follow them out. There was another door next to the counter, and Josephina had her handle on the knob. But the shadowy woman turned, and met Benny’s eyes. “M-Mom?” he said.
“Benny, it’s time you come home,” said the shadow woman. She walked right through the counter in front of her, and extended her hand to Benny. “Come on. Right now.”
“She’s not your mom!” Bonnie exclaimed, and the shadow woman’s head snapped toward the other three. Raven ran forward, grabbed Benny, and took off running toward the door, the shadow woman right on their heels.
“Quick, quick, quick!” Josephina cried. When all three were through the door, Josephina hurried through herself and slammed it shut just as the shadow woman reached it. Outside was a small, dreary garden, but as sad as it looked, it was growing. “Grab what you can, just keep running!” Josephina commanded the others. She plucked some flowers off of branches, some berries, and some random twigs and leaves. It wasn’t the neat packet of seeds she had pictured, but enough to work with, and that was all that mattered. No other shadows were in sight, but the shadow woman was banging on the door, rattling the knob. “This way!” Josephina cried, and hurried with them all around another corner. “We need a place to hide!”
“There!” said Bonnie, pointing to a door so small, they all had to crouch down to fit inside. “The little ones are usually safe.”
“Usually?” Raven said. But they had no other choice. They hurried through, and Bonnie slammed the door behind them.
The room they had entered could hardly be called a room. Just a cramped, dark, dirty cave. But they all let out a sigh of relief because it was empty, and safe.
Benny was in Josephina’s arms before she knew it. “I’m sorry!” he cried. “I thought… She looked like…”
“It’s okay, sweetie, we made it,” Josephina said. “Shh… It’s okay…”
“But your spell worked, Jo,” Bonnie said. “Do it again.”
“And then we’ll go home?” Raven asked.
“No!” Benny said, pulling away from Josephina. “We don’t have to give up because of me! Now we know they’ll try to mess with us, we just can’t look at them!”
“Well, we did only get two things on our list crossed off,” Josephina said. “Who thinks we should keep trying?”
“I guess so,” Bonnie said, “I mean, we’ll have to walk down the street with all the shops anyway. I think we got the most difficult things first.”
“Raven? What do you say?”
Raven sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s do it.”

Raven didn’t want to admit her fear. If the shadows could imitate people from their old lives, maybe the others could resist, but she didn’t think she could. But before they left the cave, Bonnie took her hands in hers, and whispered, “Just keep your eyes on me.” All Raven could do was nod, but the gesture gave her more strength than she could express.
The first shop they entered had electronics, and a few toy ones as well. They grabbed a pair of walkie-talkies, and a video game console for Ben, as well as a random game. There was no time to pick and choose. Enough to work with was all that mattered. Raven had no idea why these shadowy people would have stores like these, but she realized that the more she thought of them as human, the more human they began to look. But she didn’t risk more than periphery glances.
The next was a clothing store, where they each picked up a new item to work with. Bonnie started to hurry them along, and Raven took the hint, scooting the others out the door. “Who did you see?”
“An ex,” she said. “This place is really trying to mess with us.”
“Good job getting away, though,” Raven whispered.
In the next store, Josephina found cleaning supplies. Raven heard her gasp when she looked at the end of one aisle, where three, smaller shadowy figures were gathered.
“Jo. Look at me,” Raven whispered. Josephina spun away from the distorted versions of her three children. Raven grabbed a bottle of something off the shelf, stuck it in her bag, and guided Josephina away.
The last store was the most important, and the one Raven was most afraid to enter. It was the same bookstore she’d been chased out of right before she met Bonnie. Her parent’s voices were already here. But they couldn’t split up outside a store. If she were to wait outside, she’d be even more vulnerable to an attack by a shadow impersonating one of her parents.
Inside the book store, they each went to a different section, keeping at least one of the group in sight. They had this routine down pretty well now. Josephina and Benny kept their eyes on each other, and Raven kept her eyes on Bonnie. Bonnie was just down the aisle, and as long as she was there, Raven knew she’d be okay. She took a book off the shelf, and tucked it in her bag.
Someone tugged at her shirt. “Benny, what’s wrong?” she whispered. But when she turned to him, she found someone who definitely wasn’t Benny.
“Why’d you leave me, Raven?” her little sister asked. Her gaze made her feel more than visible, like a spotlight was shining on her. “Why’d you run away, when they were so mean to both of us? You never noticed they hurt me too, did you?”
“Raven!” Bonnie whispered.
Raven snapped alert again. All the shadows in the book store were staring at them. Among them were her parents, Benny’s mother, Josephina’s children, and several others she didn’t recognize, but knew where more ghosts from their past lives.
Bonnie’s hand in hers broke her paralysis. “Just look at me,” she whispered, and together, they ran.

Josephina gripped Benny’s hand tightly as the two of them ran and ran. Raven and Bonnie weren’t too far ahead of them, but they had to catch up, their best chance was together… How did she let those two girls get away from them at all? But just as she wondered this, Bonnie and Raven spun around, and raced back toward them. Josephina’s heart nearly stopped. What could possibly be worse than the shadows of their loved ones chasing them with those terrible eyes?
“Train!” the girls both shouted at once, and the loud horn sounded. A train came charging down the street, straight for them.
“This way!” Josephina shouted, pulling Benny down another street. The girls quickly followed, but the horn sounded again. Several cars broke off the train and came after them. Josephina didn’t know where Raven and Bonnie were, all she knew was she and Benny had to stay together. The cars were breaking off in every direction, taking off down every track. She hadn’t realized before that train tracks crisscrossed in every direction on the ground. Had they always? Doesn’t matter, it’s all dream rules, she reminded herself. All that mattered was the ground was no longer safe. “If Raven can fly, Ben, I think we ought to try it. Hold on to me, and think like a bird!” She sprang into the air. To her surprise, it worked.
Benny was squeezing her tightly. “I can’t do it myself, I can’t!” he cried.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you! We’ve got to head for the water. Remember what Bonnie told us?”
“But what if we can’t breathe underwater like she can?”
“If I can’t, I’m sure you can, Benny! There’s a reason we all have to stick together. And if neither of us has it, we’ll swim for our lives. But I hear helicopters, and we’ve just got to risk it.”
“Where are the others?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll meet us back home.” She didn’t trust her own words. Scanning the skies, she didn’t see another pair of humans. Just black helicopters coming for them. There really was no other choice but to flee.

Down the streets they flew, turning corner after corner, but the train cars still chased. Raven followed Bonnie’s lead, remembering she used to have a safe house here somewhere. That was their only hope, and Bonnie was the only one who knew the entrance.
“It’s a dream,” she muttered to herself. “It’s a dream, it’s a dream, it’s a dream!” Those cars couldn’t really hurt her, she thought. If she died here, surely she’d just wake up safe at home. Safe, but… Not really at home. Not without Bonnie.
“Here!” Bonnie shouted. “This way!”
She’d found the secret entrance to their safe house, but her back was turned to the train track. “Bonnie, look out!” Raven shouted. Without thinking, she threw herself in the way of the car heading straight for Bonnie. She heard the impact more than she felt it, heard Bonnie cry out in horror, and then everything went black.

To Be Continued...

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: No Conflict vs. Unnecessary Conflict—How to Prevent the Unnecessary

11/13/2018

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We’ve all heard not to make things too easy for our characters. Sometimes, in our impatience, we want to cut to the juiciest scenes, so we make things a little too easy up until that point (more on that in a later week… probably). Then, we may be told our story needs more conflict. So we throw in a few things: a fight with a loved one, a loss of an important object the story can’t continue without, a drastic change of plans, etc…

But do we need these extra conflicts? Ever been reading a book and found the story is dragging because the added conflict seems so unnecessary? Maybe it’s easily solvable, maybe the main character is having emotions you don’t connect with, or maybe they think they can’t go on without something/someone when it’s perfectly clear to you, the reader, that they can.

How do you know if you have the right amount of conflict?

First, identify your reading pet peeves. What kinds of conflicts frustrate you? What do you see as unnecessary? Consider how much your audience will share your perspective, and write accordingly. Also consider if there's anything these peeves from different stories have in common. Usually, the common thread is predictability.

I've found this to be a good rule: If the conflict has an easy solution that readers will be able to predict, cut it or change it. For example, in the “hero’s journey” story model, I find the “refusal of the call” phase to be useless and boring. Of course your hero needs a good reason to say yes, but since we already know there’s a whole lot of book ahead, we already know that they do say yes. Having extra pages where a character thinks things over, needs convincing, and argues with others about why they just can’t go is maddening to me. We already know that eventually, they will go.

Another example is a fight with a loved one where two pages later, they both apologize and forgive each other. Now, sometimes this is a reoccurring thing that denotes a deeper issue, and one or both parties walk away still frustrated, because they know it will happen again. This can be something that builds throughout the story until the real, core issue is finally addressed and resolved at the end. But I’m talking about a fight that was thrown in for extra conflict, but ended up being useless. If the characters are going to genuinely forgive each other on the next page, what was the point of the argument?

Don't waste your reader's time. Think about where the reader thinks the story will go next, then go somewhere else. You'll probably find something much more worthwhile and a lot more fun down a stranger road.

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: LoveNotes Quartet Bohemian Rhapsody

11/12/2018

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Here's some lovely, four-part harmony acapella to kick of this week! I absolutely adore these girls. Happy Monday!

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Josephina's Guide To Magic For Kids (Part Four)

11/7/2018

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Read Part One Here, Part Two Here, and Part Three Here!

The next few days were spent experimenting. At first it seemed like progress was being made. They hadn’t encountered a single shadow, so all the guards were working well. They had managed to enlarge the shack enough so they all had their own room, a nice clean living space, and a kitchen. But after a while the progress began to slow. It seemed the more they experimented and changed old objects, the less changeable the objects became.
“I hate to say this,” Josephina said on the fifth day. “But I think we need new stuff.”
“We can’t go out, though, right?” Benny said.
“You don’t have to, kiddo,” Raven said. “I can go out with Bonnie or Jo, and you can stay here safe. But we can’t live like this anymore. We need more to work with to expand outside the house.”
“I think we all need to stick together,” Bonnie said. “That’s what that creepy lady said in my first house. Our chances are best together. Don’t worry, though, Ben. We’ll keep you safe.”
Josephina took the sheets from their beds and transformed them into large, sturdy bags. She handed one to each of the group, then opened her book and ripped out a blank page. “What are we picking up? I’d say we need some actual food, even if it’s just a loaf of bread. I’ll bet I could work wonders with that.”
“Maybe we should plant our own garden!” Bonnie suggested. “If we could get seeds, or, I don’t know, a plant that’s already growing, we could turn it into whatever we want.”
“We need books,” Raven said.
“Yeah, and I’m bored,” Benny said. “I’d like something fun to do. I don’t know if they have any toys, or games or anything in shadow world, but it’d be cool if we found something to make into any of those things.”
“Maybe a real communication device for the outside world?” Bonnie said. “I know we all had temporary cell phones pop up in our pockets, and I don’t know if anything else would even work. But if we got some electronics, we could at least try.”
“Yeah,” Benny said. “I miss my mom.”
“I know, honey,” Josephina said, giving him a quick squeeze.
“It’s funny your writing a shopping list for shadow world,” Benny said. “My mom would do the same thing.”
“Sometimes habits are all we have. Anything else? I know it’s a bit silly, but I’m tried of magicing up my own cleaning supplies. If we had some real ones, maybe we could make the rest of this neighborhood a bit nicer too. With magic, of course,” she added, noticing Raven’s eye roll. “I think Bonnie’s seeds should help us with that too.”
“I need new clothes, too,” Bonnie said.
“Guys, isn’t this getting to be a lot?” Raven asked.
“We only need a little of each thing to stretch a long way, and if things go south, we can run, and try again another day.”

Raven was surprised to see the boat she and Bonnie arrived in was still there, and hadn’t transformed back into a log.
“Where’d you get a boat?” Benny asked.
“Bonnie magiced one up for us out of a log,” Raven said.
“Hey, if we can do stuff like that, can’t we just make ourselves invisible?” Benny asked.
“It’s certainly worth trying,” Raven said. Though she wasn’t sure if their “magic” was strong enough to hide them from the piercing gaze of the shadow’s glowing eyes.
“All aboard!” Bonnie said, “We’ll get invisible on the water!”
The four of them boarded the boat, which expanded to accommodate the extra people. Once on the water, the boat moved as though it knew the way. Josephina set about to putting spells on each of them, leaving herself for last. “We need to stay visible to each other, but not to shadows, so we won’t know if it worked until we’re in town. It’s best we try to blend in, and take every possible precaution against those things.”
“Stay quiet, emotionless, and move in rhythm with them,” Raven said.
“Do you think we should stay together, the four of us, or go in pairs?” Bonnie asked.
“We’ll stay together as much as we can. Only break into pairs if we need to, and never for long. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” the other three whispered. The town was coming into view out of the fog.
The boat moved to the shore, and waited for the passengers to depart. After all four were on land, it sank into the water and disappeared. Must be too conspicuous, Raven thought. But as long as they stayed together, Bonnie could magic up another boat to get home…
For now, they couldn't think about how to get back. All they could do was face what was ahead of them: a town full of shadowy beings who wanted to steal their light. Their souls depended on how well they could blend in, and how quickly they could return to safety.

To Be Continued...
Read Part Five Here

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: Perfection is Boring

11/6/2018

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Ever read a book where the main character has a problem with some aspect of their life because she’s “too pretty” or has “too much magical power”? Ever read a book where conflicts are solved within a page, and happiness and safety restored and maintained throughout the story? It's pretty dull, right? I mean, what's the point of telling a story when everything is always perfect, near-perfect, or will be perfect again after a brief moment of discomfort?

Now, I won’t mention the title of this book, because I literally don’t remember it. But it was a book where a guy from another dimension was sent to earth to protect a girl from demons, and they fell in love. Sounds cool, right? But the author avoided danger and conflict like we want to in real life. There were moments of danger, but they passed far too quickly, and moments of perfection were dragged out. The main girl had a birthday party coming up, and things had been so good and perfect for so many chapters leading up to it, I was sure, 100% sure, that there would be a demon attack at her party. Or at least something would go wrong. I was very disappointed when the party went by without one moment of imperfection, let alone danger.

I understand the idea of readers living vicariously through the main character, and how on the surface, it seems nice to let them live out a perfect love story. But if there’s no danger, there are no stakes, and the “perfect” love story doesn’t seem worth anything.

Also, too much perfection isn’t relatable. Even someone who believes they’re beautiful always has at least some aspect of their appearance they don’t like. And in a magical world, where people generally have one gift, it’s way more fun to read about a character who has none at all than one with multiple gifts.

Less perfection means more struggles. More emotion. More development and growth. If you’re shying away from letting your characters have this, ask yourself, do you shy away in real life? Maybe you never do, and you’re writing vicariously to give yourself a break. Or, maybe you often do, to the point where feeling your character’s emotions scares you.

Our job as writers isn't to put readers in a place where everything is okay, or going to be okay on the next page. Our job is to take them on a journey. Why do you love reading? If it's for those beautiful, perfect moments, as yourself why you appreciate them. It's probably because they were fought for and well-earned.

Let your characters struggle and grow. The best books out there make people feel uncomfortable. This means you, the writer, have to get more comfortable with what scares you. It might not be easy at first, but you’ll actually have a much better writing experience this way. You’ll have more fun, and probably learn a thing or two as well.

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: Gravity Falls - Theme Song [Electro Swing Remix]

11/5/2018

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My boyfriend started playing this without telling me what it was, and before I even realized it, I found myself singing along. It's just so deeply ingrained in me to sing loudly and obnoxiously to the Gravity Falls theme song every single episode. I am so happy this exists.

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Josephina's Guide To Magic For Kids (Part Three)

10/31/2018

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Read Part One Here and Part Two Here!

   As Raven and Bonnie’s log broke the surface of the water, it reformed into a boat. Raven gratefully drank in the air. She was sure that without Bonnie by her side, she would have drowned.
   The neighborhood they were approaching was quiet. No shadows or human life in sight. Bonnie and Raven left the water, and quietly crept down the streets. They didn’t speak. They tried to even keep their footsteps soft. Silence felt like safety. Maybe the shadows hadn’t discovered this odd, ghost-town neighborhood just yet…
   Loud music blasted from Raven’s pocket, shattering the silence. She quickly pulled out a phone, and on the screen, the only option was to answer. She hit the button just to silence it. “Hello?” she said.
   “Eight. One. Two,” said an unfamiliar voice.
   “What? Who is this?”
   “Eight. One. Two.”
   “I don’t understand.”
   “Run.”
   “Raven,” Bonnie said, tapping her shoulder. Shadows were emerging from the water behind them. Their eyes were glowing red.
   “Run!” Raven said, and they took off down the street, deeper into the quiet neighborhood. “Does eight one two mean anything to you?” Raven asked Bonnie.
   “No!” she said. “Unless…” she looked around at the houses. Eight zero nine. Eight one zero. Eight one one. “It’s a house number, I think! Quick, that should be the one!”
   A poorly laid stepping stone path led up to a little blue house, and painted on the door were the numbers 812.
   “Can we trust some phone voice!”
   “Do we have a choice?” Bonnie was already at the door, but it was locked. Raven was a step ahead, and hoisted up one of the stones from the path. She thrust it with all her might through the window, and the two clambered inside.
   Raven held a finger to her lips as the whoosing of shadows came nearer. “We can’t stay here!” Bonnie mouthed. She was right. They could stay down, but with the window smashed, they were exposed. “Follow me,” Raven mouthed back, and started crawling deeper into the house. Down a hallway, past an empty kitchen, and finally, to the back door.
   The yard was empty of shadows, and in it was a small, abandoned shack.

   Josephina didn’t dare look outside. Someone was shaking the knob of the shack, and she thought she heard whispers, but it could have been her imagination.
   “Josephina?”
   “Sshh! Stay put, Benny!”
   “I think we should open the door.”
   “What?”
   “I just have a feeling. I think it’s okay. Plus, if this is all a dream, we’re not in any real danger, right?”
   Voices sounded outside the door. Whoever was outside knew there were people within.
   “No use hiding anymore,” Josephina muttered. Despite how odd everything was around her, she often forgot it all might be just a dream. It felt like dreaming vividly of strange enough things to slip in and out of lucidity multiple times throughout the night. “It’s just a dream,” she whispered to herself, and opened the door.
   Two desperate, human faces stared back at her. Girls—young women, in their late teens or early twenties. One of them dressed in dark enough colors to blend in with the shadows, and the other colorful and bright. Josephina saw the same look of relief she felt reflected on both their faces.
   “In!” she whispered. “Quick! Close the door!” Once the girls were inside, Josephina did the same ritual again over the door, covering it while muttering spells of security to herself. When she was finished, she turned and faced the two new arrivals. Benny hurried to greet them too.
   “Well! I’m certainly happy to see another pair of humans, although I’m sorry you’re stuck in the same… wherever we are. My name is Josephina, and this young man is Benny.”
   “I’m Raven,” said the dark-haired girl.
   “I’m Bonnie,” said the other.
   “Well. Please come in and make yourselves as comfortable as you can. I’ll make us all some tea, and we can see what we can sort out among the four of us.”
   Josephina set about to manifesting and making tea for the four of them. Behind one closed door, she also pictured a blank book, and a pen. She and Benny had several strange experiences in common, and she wondered if Raven or Bonnie were the same as well. If she could compile everything they knew, maybe they’d have a better chance of figuring a way out.
   Bonnie told her story first. She started having strange experiences as a teen. “No one really worried about it, though, because I never got in trouble. They’d just explain things away. Like, I was really impatient one summer for my mom’s garden to grow, and suddenly things were producing long before they were supposed to. They just thought it was a good season, but I’d sit outside willing things to happen faster, and sometimes I could actually see things growing.”
   Next, Josephina and Benny each told another chapter from their lives. Josephina told how sometimes when she made dinner in a hurry, things in the kitchen seemed to move about of their own accord. Benny told another story about getting in trouble at school.
   “One time a dog found me at recess, this little black pug named Bagel. She told me that was her name, and that she was lost. I promised her I’d get her home. Then when this mean kid tried to bully me, she jumped up and bit him. I mean, I shouldn’t have laughed, but it was really funny. Then I got in trouble for telling my dog to attack him, even though I didn’t tell her to do anything, and she wasn’t even mine. But they didn’t believe me, and I’m not even supposed to have a dog at school. I did get her home afterward. She hid out and waited for me. No one believed she could talk to me, though. I’ve never talked to any other animals. I thought she was the special one, not me…”
   Josephina began writing in her blank book as the others told their stories. She wrote down their similar backstories, and the few but notable differences between them. There had to be a reason that the four of them were here, and not some other set of people. How strange, that Raven and Bonnie were so close in age, yet Josephina was so much older, and Benny so young. Why such drastic age differences? Why were there three women and only one boy?
   When it came to be Raven’s turn to tell her story, she didn’t go into as much detail. She mentioned her parents suspected she was a witch, and that she occasionally had strange things happen to her too, but then asked more questions to the others.
   “When did you start noticing weird things, Bonnie?”
   “High school. I was sixteen, I think.”
   Josephina took note. “I was around the same age, I think. Perhaps a little older. What about you, Raven?”
   “A little younger for me, but definitely not before puberty. I was maybe thirteen when I really started to notice. That’s weird. Benny, you must be really special.”
   “That is weird,” he whispered.
   “What are you writing, Josephina?” Raven asked.
   “I’m trying to gather everything we know, so we can figure out what’s tying us all together. Why the four of us are here. What do you all remember about how you arrived?”
   They took turns telling how they all woke up in this strange dimension. How they didn’t remember how or when they arrived, how they ran from shadows and sought safety. And strangest of all, how they all discovered the rules of reality seemed bent here. Things seemed to operate as though they were dreaming.
   Josephina wrote down all the rules they’d discovered. The sources of help they seemed to receive from the outside. Bonnie and Raven’s “dream rules” of flying and breathing underwater, and how she and Benny could manifest anything they desired.
   “If we learn enough about how to alter this world, maybe it wouldn’t be a nightmare anymore. We could even make it beautiful,” Raven said.
   “It’s all like magic,” Benny said. “Maybe if Mo—I mean, if Josephina writes enough stuff, it’ll be like a how-to guide for doing magic!”
   “Benny,” Josephina smiled. “That’s exactly what it’ll be.” She closed the book to look at the cover. Sure enough, the words “Josephina’s Guide to Magic” had appeared on the front. “Hm… That’s not quite right though, is it? This guide is for all of us, especially you younger folks. Benny, if your magical abilities are the strongest, it ought to be yours before anyone else’s.”
   “I don’t think I’m the strongest,” Benny blushed. “Just the earliest.”
   “Well, that has to count for something.” Josephina opened the book again, closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out. She opened her eyes, and closed the book again to the front cover. And there, under the words “Josephina’s Guide to Magic,” was written in parenthesis, “for kids!”

To Be Continued...
Read Part Four Here

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: How Many Rounds of Editing Does Your Book Need?

10/30/2018

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People often ask how many rounds of editing a book should go through. I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve read over my story, but twelve has always been a magic number in my books. So, here’s a starting guide for your rounds of editing, though I’d honestly recommend you lose count too.

Does the story make sense? Did you take care of any plot holes? Is everyone acting according to what’s supposed to be driving them?
Remove unnecessary scenes.
Repeat step one, because now that you’ve cut some stuff, you might have plot holes again.
Does it flow well? Tidy up your transitions, improve those blocks of writing you wrote just to get them down, tune up your writing style.
Technical editing: spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure/flow, etc.
Read it out loud from your computer.
Read it silently from your computer.
Get yourself a printed proof copy and read that out loud.
Now read that one silently.
Also check that printed proof for formatting issues, and make sure all your chapter headings line up with where the table of contents say they do.
Put it away for a while, then do another round with fresh eyes.
Now you’re probably ready to let someone else read it, giving you a new perspective that will probably draw attention to issues you had no idea existed, and potentially sending you back to step one.

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: Bill Wurtz - and the day goes on

10/29/2018

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If you want to know what artistic genius is, watch some Bill Wurtz videos. I thought this one would be the perfect way to start your day, and your week. Happy Monday!

Stories of the Early Days

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