Accountability for Writers

Setting goals, devising a plan, and sticking to it. It sounds easy, but many people struggle to stick to routines—especially in the beginning. For many of us, when we start working towards a new goal and we start out well, focused on what needs to be done. Then we falter. We lose the energy to keep going, or something comes up unexpectedly to throw a spanner in the works.

There are many reasons for this, and for the most part, it all comes down to personality. Even if those routines are nicely tuned with the way we work, we still find reasons to procrastinate, avoiding what it is we should be focusing on. And it's often on a subconscious level.

Are you one that readily meets deadlines, even self-imposed ones? Or are you one that meets externally imposed deadlines but not the self-imposed ones? Or are you a person who laughs at deadlines? ("I'll do it when I feel like it." Yeah, I know people like this.)

In today's post, I want to talk about the way in which we respond to meeting our deadlines and expectations, and I want to explain why accountability is one of the best tools that writers can use to keep them on track.

Not everyone uses Google

Over the past few months, I have encountered multiple instances where someone would invite me to a Google Calendar, or send me a Google Doc file, ask that I fill in a restricted-access Google Form, or any other number of things that you can do with Google. And in every instance, those invites have been sent to my work email (a custom domain email for the Black Wolf Editorial domain). And in every instance, there has been some issue that all comes down to the lack of access to Google products.

Because Google has become mainstream and so embedded in our everyday lives, there is this assumption that every email address on the planet can access a Google product. But it's an assumption. And when you assume things, you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me".

In today's post, I want to deviate from talking about writing and editing specifically, and I want to highlight the issues associated with this Google assumption.

Too many short sentences make a scene feel stilted

When I was still new to writing, someone told me that to write a good action sequence you had to use a lot of short sentences. The idea was that short sentences were straight to the point and didn't give you a chance to add fluffy stuff. When I was told this advice, I was told that the short sentences would speed things up. Now that I'm more experienced, I know that this was bad advice and fundamentally not true.

Short sentences can be a great device to add emphasis, which is why this misconception exists. When used wisely, the short sentence can create urgency within your storytelling. However, too many short sentences in quick succession will create a stilted feeling in the narrative that is disjointed and slow to read. It can even make things confusing.

In today's post, we're going to discuss the true nature of using short sentences in action sequences.

You don’t have to use an editor’s proposed solution.

The job of a developmental editor is to highlight areas within a manuscript that are problematic and provide possible solutions on how to fix those problems. However, it's the writer's job to fix those identified problems in a way that works for the story and holds true to the writer's vision for that story.

That doesn't mean that the writer is supposed to just bow down and do exactly what the editor tells them to do. The editor could be wrong. But it's up to the writer to make that choice.

In today's post, I want to talk about my own experiences of working with editors on my own manuscripts and how I, as a writer, had to make the choice to tell my editor "no" to his solution and do it my own way.

5 ways to drive your editor batty

Every editor has a few pet peeves, things that irritate them when they see them. But we editors suffer in silence, correcting those issues and moving on to the next page of the manuscript. But there are editors like me who happily turn those pet peeves into blog posts, showing the world how irritating they can be.

Today's post dives into some of the things that writers do that can drive an editor to the coo-coo train.

(Now, watch, some of my writing buddies will turn this into a challenge to see if they can work all of these things into their next writing piece that they share with me.)

4 signs you have finished editing your manuscript

Years ago, I was at a writing group when a newer writer asked a loaded question:

"When do you know you have finished editing a manuscript?"

Without hesitation, one of my writing buddies, JC Harroway, blurted out, "When someone takes it away from you." Of course, the room burst out laughing, but JC was serious. She is a dreadful tinkerer, never happy with what she has written and constantly obsessing over it. But she is a writer with publication deadlines, and when those deadlines arrive, she has no choice but to hand over that manuscript to the editor or it won't get published.

But when you look at the original question with seriousness, there are multiple aspects to consider. Not only do you have those who constantly obsess over every little detail, but the editing question goes the other way, too. You also have those who think they have finished editing but in reality still have work to do to ensure that the story they envision is what is on the page.

In today's post, I want to discuss some of the benchmark tests you can use to determine if you have finished editing a manuscript.

Goal Setting with a Theme

When setting goals, we are told to use SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. We are encouraged to define our goals with clearly defined constraints and requirements to achieve the goals (specific), using something that we can measure our progress against (measurable). While it's important to dream big, we should never set ourselves up to fail by shooting for the stars from word go when there are a lot of little steps that we need to take along the way (attainable and realistic), and we need to put time limits on those goals (timely).

While I strongly believe in the ethos behind using SMART goals, it's the R in SMART that I believe is a little troublesome.

Commonly, I'll see R as Realistic, but I think Relevant is a better word to use. We might set a goal based on a certain task, but does that task have a purpose that is in service to our long-term hopes and dreams? For example, building that active Twitter following probably won't be of any help to the writer whose target audience is filled with young readers.

Today, I want to talk about shifting our SMART goals into something that has a stronger relevance to not only our hopes and dreams, but with our subconscious motivations too.

8 Common Structural Issues Within Fiction

I have edited many manuscripts over the years, and there are common flaws that I see come across my desk. I see some issues so often that when I see them, I struggle to unsee them. But all issues that I see are fixable. Exactly how they are fixed will depend on what the writer wants to achieve with their story.

In today's post, I want to discuss some of the common structural issues that I see, providing insights into why they happen. And it's not just a matter of understanding the beats of a story—though that is a huge part of it. It's really about the rise and fall of action and understanding reader expectations.

3 common “tell” constructions and how to turn them into “show”

So many writers are fond of reciting the mantra "show, don't tell" like it's some holy passage that will lead writers to the land of glory. New writers hear this being said and are always left wondering what it really means.

When I first started writing fiction, nearly fifteen years ago now, I too was confused beyond belief.

"Describe the action. Describe how the character is reacting." Wasn't that what I was doing?

It actually took a fellow writer who writes fantasy to explain it to me—properly.

Imagine your book being turned into a movie or television series (the ultimate dream of most fantasy writers). A scriptwriter is going to take your book and fashion it into a script where the only way to get an insight into a character is through their actions. How true that scriptwriter remains to your book will be related to how much show you give them to work with.

And trust me when I say that seeing your words of descriptions transformed into the visual format is an incredibly satisfying feeling. (I've had commissioned artwork done based on lines of my manuscripts.)

I have written about the concepts of show vs tell before in Show the story. Tell the ride through the countryside. and in Is First-Person Really More Intimate?

Today, I want to take this from a different perspective, explaining how to identify a tell statement and how you might transform it into one of show.

5 Key Tips to Writing a Stellar Fight Scene (Guest Blog)

Without a great fight scene for your action or fantasy or sci-fi novel, does it really fit the mold? The great fight scenes of old have transformed good books into great books: Harry Potter vs. Voldemort (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire), Paul Atreides vs. Jamis (Dune), etc. There are a lot of great battles to name from all sorts of books from a plethora of genres. But why are they so important?

Great battles can move stories forward, reveal character, and sometimes provide the reader with necessary exposition. Writing fight scenes requires a certain finesse and intentionality. Therefore, think of these five key tips when writing your fights.