Avoiding the Shiny, New Syndrome

Posted on July 17, 2020December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

There comes a point within a manuscript's life cycle where it loses its shiny luster. Sometimes, it's because we've been working on the manuscript long enough that there is nothing new in it for us to discover. Or maybe we've gotten stuck and have no idea how to move the story forward. Or perhaps we've hit a scene that we just don't want to write though we know it needs to be there.

Regardless the reason for why the manuscript now seems dull to our imaginations, that will be when a new shiny bauble dangles in front of us, distracting our brains from the story we are meant to be working on.

Some writers will chase the new shiny, but following every shiny, new idea can lead to the road filled with incomplete manuscripts. There is one thing that all successful novelists have in common: They finished a manuscript.

As such, every writer wishing to pursue publication needs to develop the discipline needed to persevere on a manuscript that has lost its shiny-new luster.

Trick from the Editor’s Hat: Create character style sheets as you go.

Posted on July 3, 2020February 1, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

Editing is a BIG job, and sometimes it can seem like it's taking forever. Trying to get a story to flow and hit all the emotional beats at the right points… Getting your head around the nuances of voice, show vs tell, and the dialogue flow… And we shouldn't forget the dreaded punctuation and grammar.

But sometimes, editing has nothing to do with voice, writing style, or what might be in the dictionary. Sometimes, it's the little details that define our characters or settings that need to be filtered through an entire manuscript (or multiple manuscripts).

When you are working with a long story, the little details can sometimes get lost among the screes of words in all the random notes and files that might be thrown all over the place. This is particularly problematic when working in a series where particular characters might be used in story after story.

To help keep the little details straight, create character style sheets as you go.

Scene & Sequel, but not that Scene & Sequel

Posted on June 26, 2020December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

Sometimes, certain words carry multiple meanings and those multiple meanings can be at complete odds with one another. And when those words are literary terms, writers everywhere are bound to get confused.

The words scene and sequel are two such words.

The common meaning of a scene is as we might see it in a film or on stage. A setting has been pieced together and the characters walk into view to do some action or talk about random things. As writers, we talk about scene transitions with great importance and many of us will break down our manuscripts into scenes. But this is not the scene I'm talking about today.

Nope… Today, we're talking about a scene as the portion of the story that propels the action forward, where characters attempt to achieve goals, and things happen. Scenes are moments of conflict rooted in a constant stream of time. (Note: flashback scenes are rooted in the past.)

The word sequel is just as confusing. Normally, when we talk about sequels, we're talking about the next story in a series. But nope, not today.

Today, sequel refers to those passages where characters reflect over what just happened and form the plan to move forward.

After every scene, you need a sequel.

Are you confused yet? Let's see if we can do something about that.

The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne: The idea is good, but the book is confusing.

Posted on March 20, 2020October 12, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

A few months back, I was part of a discussion on Facebook about books that are specific to developmental editing. Being a developmental editor, I watched the thread like a hawk. I wanted to know what books are out there and what was high on the recommended lists. Many of the books discussed I already had, but there was one that came highly recommended by several on the thread.

The book in question: The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne.

So, I ordered a copy of the book myself. It took approximately 6 weeks to arrive (shipping to New Zealand is always a long, drawn out wait), and when it got here, I sat down and started reading. And instantly regretted buying the paper version of the book.

Don't get me wrong: the technique presented in the book is gold. The book itself…

The editor NEEDED an editor. It takes forever to get to the crux of the methodology, and when you finally get to the end, there is no discussion on what to do with the full Story Grid, or how to even generate those pretty graphs that Coyne often talks about. At one point, the book became a political statement against Trump, which actually left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm sorry, folks, but a book about editing books is NOT the place to discuss your political views, whatever they are.

Political discussions aside, what really got to me was the word count taken to discuss certain concepts. Waffle! He spent forever circling the drain.

Let's just say that I WILL NOT be adding this book to my list of recommended books for writers. BUT… As a developmental editor myself, I could see the beauty in the method he presented. He tracks the upbeats and the downbeats, and marks the points of transitions within his detailed spreadsheets—spreadsheets that take days if not weeks to compile. Pretty graphs seem to magically come out of it (the magic of which was not explained, unless that was something that I missed entirely, which wouldn't surprise me). But the idea of understanding the rise and fall of tension is something that is incredibly important. It's for this reason alone that I think many writers keep pointing other writers to this book.

However, much of the details in the book could be compressed into a more concise format and rewritten so it's understandable by all writers.

So, that's what I'm going to do. It's a tall ask for a single post, and I'll likely fail, but if I don't try, then the knowledge that I've gleaned from this book will likely be lost in the filing cabinet that is my brain.

Is it literary, commercial, or upmarket? Publishing industry terms explained.

Posted on February 14, 2020December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

The publishing industry is filled with terms that seem to mean one thing to the industry but something entirely different to everyone else. For the writer who is just entering into the publishing scene, this barrage of new terminology can leave us confused, staring at the word forever trying to discern its meaning.

Three of those words for me were literary, commercial, and upmarket. There really isn't a simple definition for these three terms as they apply to the nature of the narrative used within a story. Here's hoping that today's post can clarify it for at least some writers.

Shapeshifter: A Literary Term Defined

Posted on January 17, 2020December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

There are times when the terminology seems to confuse the hell out of me. Sometimes, it’s because the odd term is completely new to my ears. At other times, it’s a term or phrase that has an obscure reference that I spend forever trying to work how such an odd term could mean that. And there are those terms that have a common meaning within pop culture that seem to be at war with the literary meaning.

The term shapeshifter is one of those terms that falls into the last category.

While pop culture would have us believe that the term shapeshifter refers to someone whose physical appearances change, the term actually refers to their behavior.

How to Write Realistic and Professional Scenes About Shooting (Guest Blog)

Posted on November 15, 2019December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

How to Write Realistic and Professional Scenes About Shooting

by Jay Chambers

Let’s face it, most writers are not gun experts. And gathering reliable data about how gun fights actually happen is difficult, because there are a lot of tall tales out there and combat data collection is spotty, but there are a few things that we know.

The behavior of gun-savvy people is easy to observe and replicate in your writing. Here’s what you need to know to write realistic shooting scenes that make you look like a professional who does their homework.

Plotter vs Pantser: Is one really better than the other?

Posted on October 25, 2019December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

I have found myself in a few conversations lately about the merits of being a plotter or a pantser, with interesting insights on the two different concepts. In reality, the conversations always comes down to how we are all different and how there is no one way to get the initial draft on paper. We all do what we have to do to make the writing happen, but it is interesting how many of us have multiple tactics up our sleeves. Sometimes, we're forced to change gear and try something else.

So, which really is better? Well... It would seem that the answer is nowhere near as simple as the question.

Writing Accent into Fictional Writing

Posted on September 13, 2019December 19, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

You have a character that comes from a particular region of the world. The people from this region tend to speak in a particular fashion. It's distinctive, and the moment anyone hears it, they instantly get a sense of the type of environment that the character came from.

It's only natural to want to put that into our writing. We want to immerse our readers into the world. We want them to experience it. Being able to imagine a character's accent is only part of that experience.

However, building accent into the written form is not a simple matter of slapping a few letters onto the page. Like everything else we do in writing, it takes careful thought and consideration.

Writing accent into your story could add the perfect color to your fictional world, but it could also turn into a reader's nightmare.

The Long or the Short of a Story

Posted on August 9, 2019November 30, 2022 by Judy L Mohr

The length of a story has more impact on the nature of a story than people realize. In a previous post, I wrote about how there is a minimum number of words necessary to do a story justice. This is particularly the case when working in the short story form. However, what many writers don’t realize is that the length of the story will help to define the expectations of a reader when it comes to world building, character development and pacing. There will also be a literary expectation imposed by word counts.

With the publishing industry, you have six broad categories for story length: flash fiction, short stories, novelette, novella, short novel and long novel.

It’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and explain the difference between these different categories and the reader expectations involved.