#wav3

“Break Shit” single by Sophie Hunter.

Hey, Lindsay~ ♥︎

I think... you have asked me this question in the past (but I can't find it so I guess we must be sharing some sort of dejavu c;). Also I hope you don't mind me publishing this publicly, I have gotten several questions like this and I figured there are probably a dozen more shy people wondering about this too~ ♥︎

Have I ever done Nanowrimo?

Yes I have! It's part of how I got started in writing. I completed Nanowrimo '09 through '12, but I have not been able to get back into 'Nanowrimo' because of work schedule-- though that's not really keeping me from writing altogether. Technically speaking, I do Nanowrimo every month as I write more than 50K words per month. I average about two novellas per month (for those of you freaking out over that factoid, read this)... although right now it's way less than that since life has been getting in the way :c I am making a post about it today, so you will hear about it soonish~

Are you participating this month?

Not really :c my writing schedule has been all over the place-- and so has my time for the blog. You can tell because I SHOULD HAVE done something for Camp Nanowrimo but I totally dropped the ball on that *sigh*...

But-- I think that it is a great opportunity for people to write! Especially those of you who are on vacation c; As some of you remember, I actually did Camp Nano earlier in the year, and it was fun encouraging each other to write, so I will make sure to keep an eye on future opportunities for that :D (I'm already planning what I will be doing this upcoming November!).

This is... indeed a very broad question :p

But, I get your sentiment. There is this unspoken expectation the success of a book is balanced on the first line, or on the very first sentences. Of course, that is silly. I have never met any writer, or reader, worth respecting who closed a book based on the very first line.

Personally, I can't even wrap my head around that concept. It's like walking up to a person, hearing the way they greet you and go "I'm sorry I see this relationship is not going to go anywhere."

It's downright silly c;

But, that has nothing to do with your question-- right? You want to know how I would start a story. And, of course, you are asking for my opinion-- so here you go.

Do you want to know how I start writing stories? Some of you have heard this a million times, but here it goes again:

Write as though you are telling someone the story.

Write as though you are telling someone the story.

Write as though you are telling someone the story.

Not clear enough? Try this.

Imagine yourself around a campfire (wearing a badass cloak), or imagine yourself at a bar, or imagine yourself inside an interrogation chamber. Now imagine the person you are telling this story to. What do they look like? What sort of stories do you think they are into? Does this person look like anyone you know? And... just start writing the story, in the same way you would tell it to them.

Seriously. That's the secret. Writing is storytelling, and (really when you think about it) the act of writing is simply that of translating our thoughts (or inner voice) into paper.

Now, some of you must be asking yourself: "But Max, this does not work for me as my story is told from 3rd person omniscient." Nope, this still works. I wrote a whole post about that.

I hope this helps c; Your question was a little broad, but really this kind of covers the entire concept of 'getting over the first line' which I get questions about every day. Really, the secret is to step back and treat it like what it is... telling a story!

Hello there! (I love your hair ♥︎)

I assume you mean ‘cut what you love’ during the revision process, right? I prefer to call it ‘kill your darlings.' In the past I have talked about editing (or chopping) out parts of the story that may not be effective— even if you like them, or enjoyed writing them. You can read more about my feelings, here c;

Instead, I want to spend this time to tackle the misconception of ‘cut what you love.’

It doesn’t mean what some people think it means.

Those of you who have seen my Top 5 Tips For Revision know that the overall message of that post was that (during the revision process) you must be able to look at your work objectively.

That is the exact same sentiment from which the advice ‘kill your darlings’ (or the misinterpreted ‘cut what you love’) comes from. The reality is that, from time to time, we end up writing things that may not be necessary, or effective, to the story.

I can already tell that someone is rolling their eyes at me, and that’s okay~ we can all have different opinions on this. What counts as ‘important’ and ‘not important’ is entirely subjective. I get that— but during the revision process you HAVE to be able to look at your writing and ask:

"Does this really need to be here? And if the answer is yes, am I choosing to keep this passage/paragraph/element because I believe the story is better because of it… or is it because I am attached to the time and effort I spent writing it?"

That’s it.

That is seriously the key to creating the best story possible: don’t waste the reader’s time with things that are not important to the story. This is also the secret for improving pacing. Again, I can feel that some of you may be taking my words wrongly, so let me clarify as to what I am NOT saying:

I am NOT saying that you have to dumb-down your story.

I am NOT saying that you have to sacrifice your artistic vision

I am NOT saying that you have to cut everything that you love

What is your job as a writer? To tell a compelling story.

Let’s say that again.

What is your job as a writer? To tell a compelling story.

Let me tell you about my first book. When I wrote the first draft of Ravensgem the opening was A LOT more different than it is now. It was a long, and epic retelling of the birth of Gadeen (the fantasy world where the story takes place). It was big, and expansive, and full of magical realism. I liked it. I loved writing it. But when I started editing the book that opening stood out like a sore thumb.

I didn’t want to chop out the entire opening of the book, I mean I nearly killed myself trying to get that first line right— you know? I didn’t want to just throw all of that work down the drain…

But that was exactly what I had to do.

I gave the book time. I let it sit. I came back and I looked at it objectively. I looked at it as though it had been written by someone else. I looked at the book as a whole, and I realized that opening had to go. Yeah, it was epic. Yeah it was fun to write— but Ravensgem was not about an epic fantasy world and the history that brought it to life. It was a story about people, about a young man choosing strife over safety and about a young woman choosing love over wealth.

I rewrote the opening into what it is today. I had fun. I enjoyed it. And I created something better than what was there before.

This is the entire point of revision.

Is it hard to chop out days (if not weeks) of ‘work’? Of course— but you need to remind yourself why you are doing all of this for:

To tell a compelling story.

I don’t know about you, but I want my stories to be awesome. I want my stories to be the best they could possibly be. And that sometimes means that you have to take out the entire opening of a book and start from scratch. Why? Why do all of this? Why go through all of this trouble? Because, at the end of the day, you are doing this… to tell a compelling story.

I hope this helps! If you, or any other writerly friend, has any more questions make sure to send them my way!