Welcome Mat: Your Novel’s Title

When you are brainstorming titles, think of it as a welcome mat. A title’s job is to bring readers into your novel, story, or picture book. This is why the title is often changed by the marketing/publicity department: they have their fingers on the pulse of the audience and have a better idea of what will be appealing.

Improved Titles

Here are some titles, as originally proposed. Fortunately, these lame titles were changed! See if you can match them to the well-known title below. (See answers below.)

• 1. The Mute?
• 2. Private Fleming, his Various Battles
• 3. To Climb the Wall
• A. The Red Badge of Courage
• B. The Blackboard Jungle
• C. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Sol Stein, in his book, Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies, emphasizes that titles are sales tools, an invitation to the world to enter your story. He recommends finding an apt metaphor for the story, preferably one in iambic pentameter.

Titles look outward to the audience and tease. They lay a Welcome mat before the threshold of the story. Today, try writing 20 different titles for your story and then mix and match the words from the 20 until you have 20 new ones. Read them to friends and ask which title makes them want to read the book. Anytime you’re stuck on a revision, play with titles.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

My daughter suggested the title for my teacher resource book on prewriting activities for students. She was thinking about brainstorming and storms and writing with pen and paper and came up with this: Paper Lightning. The editor loved it and the title stuck.
Answers: 1C, 2A, 3B.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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I’m starting a series of posts about plot this week – as requested. Thanks for popping in or sending me emails with your preference!

Plot and Character are Intertwined

Before I start talking about plot, I have to say something about characters, the people who will be DOING and REACTING to the plot. Obviously, they are intertwined. We all know that. Without some external events, there’s just a character spouting off his/her philosophy of life. Without characters, there simply are no events and no story.

I also know that stories begin many places, but that two common places are with a plot idea or character idea. Yet, I’m easily intimidated by the Character Folks, who insist that good stories must, of course, begin with Character.

I understand exactly what you mean; we read because novels are the only art form which allows us inside a person’s head to experience events with them and to understand life from a different point-of-view. And, in fact, character books are more likely to be considered a “literary” work of art than, say for example, a comedy or an action-thriller.

Yet, your Characters are nothing without events that challenge their very core.

Still the Character-First-and-Foremost Folk intimidate me, probably because I have to work harder at characterization because I’m such a private person myself. When a character wants to give the readers a look at his/her emotions, thought processes (the very things that make novels so unique), my response is, “Wait up.” That means you’re exposing yourself, your privacy might be violated, are you sure you want the world to know all that? Or, it’s just none of the reader’s business, and s/he had better butt out of your life. I struggle to commit the character to paper.

So, here I am talking about Plot or the events of a story and I’m okay with that. But without characters, especially the character’s emotional reactions to the events, all the work on plot is wasted. You can artificially separate these story elements, yet this thing we call a novel is so rich precisely because of how these are woven together.

OK, Plot. I’ll begin tomorrow with a discussion of the three levels of plot: outline, scenes, pacing.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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Revising in the Home Stretch

I know what method of working has made the first 2/3 of my mss better. I’m just getting tired.

Don’t get Lazy Now! I’m on the last third. I know that I must rewrite a major scene for a subplot/secondary character climax. But much of these later chapter are in good shape. By now in the story, so much is set, the stakes are established, character arcs and plot arcs are underway, the scenes are focused and full of tension. My inclination is to avoid the work!

But I think it’s still essential to question everything! Runners know you can’t stop until you’ve actually crossed the Finish Line.

Questions I’m still asking myself:
Is this scene essential to the story line?
Is there a better way to present this scene?
Is there a better way to set it up?
Can I raise the stakes?
Is the dialogue snappy enough?
Could the reader possible be confused at any point?
Are the emotions still building?
Are the characters’ actions exciting?
Can I improve the language at any point?
Are descriptions static or full of emotions?
Can I connect scenes in any way?

Of course, each scene presents new challenges, so these are only a few of the concerns at this point. The main problem is to not rush this last section, to slow down and take each scene very seriously, as if this scene might prevent the entire book from working well. It’s very, very hard. I want to be finished! But I’m trying to keep to the working method that worked and trying to keep myself focused and working.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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Interior Thoughts Reveal Character

I spent time yesterday adding more interior thoughts to a character. My critiquers felt they needed to know the character better at this point in the story. I’ve done the requisite “Show, Don’t Tell,” but readers still felt they needed more to really know the character. What does she FEEL here? What is she thinking?

Some things I learned:

• Show, Don’t Tell. Be sure you’ve done this first and done it well.
• Action, Reaction. The right places to put interior thoughts are as a reaction to an action. Or clearly, the story’s pace must be so rapid that there’s no time for thought and the reader understands that the reactions are delayed, but they will come.


Why did he reach forward?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keenahn/3265008271/

• Less is More. I didn’t need lots added anywhere, except once. I just needed to clarify. For example, if A slaps B on the face, B could have many different reactions: I deserved that; how dare you; my last girlfriend did that and therefore, I hate you; etc. The goal here is to clarify what the emotions are.
• The Why of Emotions. This is the hardest for me. Why does the character feel this way? asks a reader. Well, just because they do. Nope, that’s not enough.

  I don’t have to explain the WHY all the time, but there are crucial times when it must be there. The reader doesn’t want, “I feel this way because. . .” But there must be something to make feelings understandable.

  Flashbacks work here, but should be used sparingly. A hint of a reminder about something earlier might work.

How do YOU handle interior thoughts that reveal emotion and character? Any examples or tips?

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. Last year, I featured many of the Class of 2k8 on Revision Notes, as they told the stories of how 2k8 Novels Were Revised.

Today, I’m glad to continue the 2k9 Series of novel revision stories.
Class of 2k9

The Joy of Revision

Believe it or not, revision is actually my favorite part of writing. I rarely enjoy first drafts. The whole time I’m working on them I’m looking forward to that point in the future when the whole story will be down on the page and I can start fixing everything that’s wrong with it.

Maybe it’s because I don’t feel totally comfortable with a story until I’ve written the whole thing out at least once. Maybe it’s because it can be such a thrill to find a way of handling a plot point or character development that’s ten times better than what’s already there. Whatever the case, I’m always happiest during the second and third drafts.

I don’t just revise, I rewrite. Open up the previous draft on one side of my computer screen for reference and a blank document on the other, and start the new draft from scratch. When I tell people this they often respond as if I’ve announced that I prefer Brussels sprouts to chocolate. But it’s actually not that much work. All the parts I want to keep the same, I just retype from the previous draft. And for all the parts that need revising, I find it much easier to make sure the changes fit the flow of the story when I’m writing the whole thing out rather than dipping in and shifting bits here and there.

Eight revisions. But even a revision-lover like me can get tired of tweaking a story after the seventh or eighth run-through. And when you reach the publishing stage, you can expect a lot of revising! GIVE UP THE GHOST went through three revisions (two rewrites and one line edit) before I submitted to agents, another revision for my agent before submitting to editors, a pre-offer revision, and then three revisions after the book sold. That’s eight revisions!

So how did I keep the love through all that time?

1. Choices strengthened story. I made sure that the things I changed strengthened the story. It’s a lot easier to feel enthusiastic about revising when you can see for yourself the voice getting clearer, the characters more relatable, the plot more intriguing.
2. Choose battles wisely. If my editor wanted a change that I wouldn’t necessarily have made on my own, but I didn’t have any reason *not* to make it, I trusted her judgment. It was only the few cases where I felt something would actually hurt the story that I mulled it over and discussed possible compromises. That helped keep stress levels down–for me, and probably for her, too!
3. Let go. I allowed myself to let go. If I’d read a certain scene ten times already, and not found anything that needed changing the last three times, and my editor didn’t think it needed any more tweaking, then I’d move on to the next scene that did still need work. There’s a point when you have to accept that while nothing’s perfect, you’ve done the best you can, and that’s enough.

For more, see Megan Crewe’s website at www.megancrewe.com

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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A scene goal must have a showdown

I’m revising my WIP novel and I’m at the end of the first section of the story. In this section, my character lays out a specific goal, and of course, the character should face the goal head-on. Right now, adults decide the goal, off stage.

As soon as I realized this, I knew the last scene in this section needs a revision. It’s a bit complicated, because there’s a minor scene with his best friend in which they make a bet; and I need that bet. But I think I’ve worked out how to do this, adding a twist of emotions and then throwing in the bet.

In the course of doing this, it will result in much stronger emotions, which the story also needs.

The same thing applies in the overall goal of a story: does the main character face obstacles head-on? Does the set-up match the pay-off? This must be true in both scenes, sections (whether you call them chapters or sections or whatever) and in the overall story.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors and how they went about revising their novels.

From Creative Writing Class to Publication

Guest Post by
Donna St. Cyr
www.donnastcyr.com

The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate

Inspiration. I began writing this story as an assignment for my writing class. My children had given me the idea by their daily antics (that’s how many of my stories are born). The final assignment for this class was to submit something that was around ten chapters in length. The instructor loved what I sent and encouraged me to finish and pursue publication with it.

Outline provides initial vision. Before I started the actual writing, I brainstormed how I might want the story to look, creating a pathfinder to give me some plot possibilities. It’s an action/adventure fantasy, so it really is a pretty plot-driven story. After I sketched the story out, I began writing. It didn’t take long for me to pitch the original outline and begin writing from the hip, so to speak. I was glad, however, that I’d started with the outline because it gave me a vision for the story, even though that vision changed as I wrote.

One and a half-years to a full draft. I have a nasty habit of revising as I go, so every time I wrote a chapter or two, I’d edit it right away. After that, I’d send it out to my critique group. These actions took care of many of my line edits and helped me with plot inconsistencies and pointing out spots where my narrative was too much “tell” and not enough “show”. To write the entire manuscript and revise it through my critique group took about a year to a year and a half.

Six months revising. When I felt like I’d finished the story, I sent it back through my critique group, looking specifically for “big picture” items. Some of the things we concentrated on during the second round of edits included character action and language that was consistent through the story, consistency through the plotline, holes in the story that needed to be filled in, places where the action sagged, and depth of characters. This took another six months or so and I felt pretty good about the manuscript by that point, so I started subbing it out to publishers.

Acceptance! I’d sent the story out five times – with five rejections – before I saw a call for manuscripts of Verla Kay’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Message Board. I thought my story fit Blooming Tree’s expectations, so I sent it in. About four months later I received a call – acceptance – YAY! I thought I was done ——— NOT!

Revise for Editor. My editor told me the story was not yet finished. It needed more action, more depth of character and more EVERYTHING! This was probably the most difficult point in the revision process for me. I really wanted to be finished, but I took a good hard look at the manuscript and realized she was right. The story wasn’t finished. I found some new characters (some of my favorites) and some more adventures my main characters needed to experience. After this revision was finished, my editor asked for one more small revision. This was mostly more of the same types of things my critique buddies had helped me with. After that came the copy edits. What amazed me was how many typos are still in a manuscript after it’s been edited six times. I think we still had 30 or so things to fix. After the copy edits were completed, I really was DONE ——— with the writing, that is. The marketing and promotion has just begun.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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How to revise a novel and build a career as a noted author – a humorous look

1. Write the first draft of a novel. That should be easy.
2. After a month or more off, reread the novel.



3. Take strong meds for your upset stomach.
4. Highlight every golden word, phrase, sentence, paragraph or emotional moment in your story.
5. Wonder why your entire story is highlighted.
6. Print out fresh copy and try number four again, this time being honest.
7. Remove everything not highlighted.
8. Reread.
9. Rejoice in your extremely intelligent, emotionally touching words.
10. Take the first scene or chapter and reread it. Turn the pages over. Totally rewrite that section. Throw away the old section and never look at it again.
11. Repeat number ten until the entire novel is rewritten.
12. After a month or more off, reread the novel.
13. Repeat numbers 2-12, six more times. Really. Seven revisions with this method is the perfect number. Perfection.
    Note: it is cheating to go back to number one and start the process all over again. To date, I’ve cheated exactly eight times. And I’ve paid a heavy price for that cheating. Please, don’t do it.
14. Send manuscript off to your editor or agent of choice.
15. All of that should have taken you seven years, a year per draft, so you’re now seven years older. While your agent sends out the manuscript to carefully selected editors in a single-submission, exclusive strategy, repeat from number one. Somewhere in there, you’d better pick up bike riding or yoga — or both — to keep your body going while this wonderfully productive career of yours takes off.
16. Finally, fourteen years after that first draft, sign your first contract and send in your second manuscript. And when your editor asks if you can do the requested revisions in seven-and-a-half days, you say yes. Repeat number three before you try to comply.
17. Do the requested revisions in seven-and-a-half hours. Yes, those last fourteen years of apprenticeship have really trained you how to write.
18. Sit back and enjoy your new career! It was a long apprenticeship. But you made it.

Anyone have advice on shortcuts?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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by Joelle Anthony

The guest post today is by Joelle Anthony, whose first novel will debut in Summer, 2010: Restoring Harmony (Putnam)

It’s always sad to me when a writer tells me that they really need to finish their novel so they can get an agent because they’ve been at this for a couple of years and they “need to be making some money soon.” My answer is to tell them they should get a job. Not because you can’t make money selling books, you can, but because the time it takes will undoubtedly be longer than you think.

The Short Sixteen Years to Becoming a Published Author

Here is a timeline of how the last sixteen years have gone for me. And I hope that you will take this as encouragement and that it will instill in you the belief that IT WILL HAPPEN because I do believe this. I admit it, I am a naturally upbeat person and quite frankly, every time I got a rejection, I was surprised because I was sure “this was it” but it usually wasn’t. Unlike a lot of people, this didn’t bother me very much. I suppose you could read my timeline and want to throw in the towel, but I hope you will see it for what it is…a long process that will pay off in the end if you stay after it.

I began writing sixteen years ago, and about four years ago, an editor at FSG took an interest in one of my manuscripts. Eventually we met, and over tea, she told me she thought I should start looking seriously for an agent, and so I did. I consider that the moment I really “turned professional” even though prior to that, I definitely considered myself a pro.

• Agents queried: 40+
• Requests for partials/fulls: 10 or so
• Agent offers: 3
• Time from first agent query: 15 months
• What happened: Chose an agent, signed with her, didn’t work out.
• Left after 7 months.
• Time it took to find a new agent: 3 months (2 offers)
• Time from signing with new agent until book went out on submission (revision required): 4 months
• Time from signing with my agent until my book Restoring Harmony sold: 6 months
• Time between acquisition and publication: Just under two years (acquired Fall 2008, will come out Summer 2010)

Novel Contracts: Talking Money

For those of you wondering about money, I will say this. I received the first half of my advance a few months after they offered, and I’ll get my second half when we’re finished editing (which is soon, but not yet). So you can see that if I had said to myself, “Oh, boy! I’ve got an agent…things are going to happen now!” I would’ve been right, but they happen at the glacial speed of publishing.

7 Ways to Keep the Publication Dream Alive

Now, there are a few more things I want to share about the process. These are the things I did over the last four years that I believe made the difference between not even having an agent and now having a book coming out.

• I kept writing. – My debut novel is a novel I wrote DURING all the agent searches. I hadn’t even thought of it when I started querying. I also wrote two other novels during these years, and have begun a third. Writing is the most important thing.
• I kept querying. – I always had at least 5 queries out, usually 10, no matter how “interested” an agent claimed to be and I turned down a request for an exclusive from a very ‘top dog’ agent because I would’ve had to withdraw it from other agents, and I wasn’t willing to do that.
• I wrote articles. – I wrote articles for SCBWI about the things I learned looking for an agent. Also, I wrote articles about writing and reading.
• I kept reading. – I read over 150 novels in my preferred genre per year for 3 years (now I read about 100 and I mix it up a little with adult and nonfiction)
• I set up a website. – I hired a pro to put up a website 2 years ago and I blog regularly. This has made me a lot of friends, contacts, and given me some exposure. When I posted on there that I had sold my book, I received more than 75 congratulations emails, about 60% from people I’d never heard of who read my blog.
• I participated in the community of writers. – I left a lot of comments on other people’s blogs (not so much anymore) but people know my name now.
• I studied. – I think that this and reading are the two factors that really made the difference. I continued to study the craft of writing. I read articles, I read books on writing. I tried exercises. And most importantly, I took Darcy Pattison’s Novel Revision workshop (which I can’t recommend highly enough!!!). If you can’t take her workshop, buy her book, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise.

It’s a long, slow process to publication and people with a book coming out every year make it look like it moves fast, but it really doesn’t. There were 5 months between the time my editor took on my book and we even STARTED the editorial process. Yeah…5 months. But do you know what? I wrote other things during all that time and by the time we began, I was a better writer than when she bought the book. Stay after it, but most importantly, know that you can’t rush it, so enjoy it. Read, have a life, love what you do…

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

How do you find fresh eyes to read through a manuscript?

• Don’t claim it. One trick I’ve heard is to put another writer’s name on it and print it out. For example, “Goldilocks by Eve Bunting”. Then read it and see if it lives up to Bunting’s reputation.



• Reimagine it. One thing I’ve done lately is to imagine multiple ways to revise it before I read it, not really writing anything down, but making the story fluid in my own mind. Then, when I read it, the story has to really gel exactly as is, or I’m off trying one of the new ideas.
• Physical form. If it’s a children’s picture book, make a dummy. If it’s a novel, do a shrunken manuscript. Change the physical form in some way – make it big or little or change font or print on colored paper or print on lined paper. Make it novel in some way, so you focus on the words again.

What do you do to come to a story with fresh eyes?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win