Sculpt Those Flabby Writing Muscles! Guest Ciara Ballintyne

Wait! This is not about exercise! At least not the Olivia Newton John in fuchsia tights and a headband exercise. It is, however, about exercising your writing muscles, and no-one is in better shape (yeah, corny, I know) than my favorite fantasy writer, lawyer and Aussie (not Olivia) Ciara Ballintyne. Thank you, Ciara, for taking the time to share this:

When we begin to write, we know nothing. Our writing muscles are weak and flabby, having never been exercised. Or, it may be you have toned them in a specific way, to write a certain way, such as technical papers, and now they need to be trained to write fiction – like a sprinter training for a marathon.

We can learn a certain amount from watching, and writers do this by learning from what they read. The problem with this is:

• ·Not everything you read will be quality and you may not (in the early days) be able to distinguish; and
• ·Eventually you will get to the point where you know what you’re reading is better than what you’re writing, but you don’t know why.

Like an athlete trying to learn from watching, we can observe the effect, but we can’t always observe all the technical detail, or understand it if we can observe it. Why does a runner warm-up? Why does he run in a certain way? What is the strategy that goes into a marathon? None of these are things you can observe.

As your writing skill improves, you will know the sentence you are reading is better than yours but not why. And the why can’t be observed.  Through trial and error you may eventually figure out the why, but this is the long, hard way.

There is an easier (and much faster) way.

In my own learning curve, there have been three key events that accelerated my writing skills:

1.        Joining a critique group;
2.        Taking advantage of the advice of a freelance editor; and
3.       Workshops.

Workshops – aerobics for your writing muscles!
 

These days, they are easily accessible online and often inexpensive as well. I mostly do mine through Savvy Authors, but there are plenty of others to choose from. In fact, if you want to see how serious I am about workshops, you can find the complete list of workshops I have completed on my website.

Workshops will teach you the technical details, the why you can’t learn from observation. Why does sentence length matter? Why are adverbs bad? Why are saidisms bad? How do I improve my sentence? Why does POV matter? How do I write better descriptions? How can I create better plots How do I create more conflict?

Even if you have been doing some of these things right before, a workshop may help you to better understand what you have been doing intuitively or unconsciously, and then you can make an effort to do more of it consciously.

As an example, I am plotting an outline for my next book at the moment. I’ve started from an outline I did previously, because when I plotted my last book, I plotted its sequel at the same time. Now I remember the last time I did this, when I went to write the book, I realised I had half a book badly in need of subplots.

This time, as I am writing it, I’m thinking:

•   Has it got enough subplots?
•  Why are the characters doing these things? Do they make sense?
•  Is there enough conflict/tension?
•  What do each of the characters want?

I couldn’t easily answer any of those questions just looking at the outline, but I simply thought ‘I will do a Goal Motivation Conflict’ chart. And that helps me to see what characters should be doing, what’s stopping them achieving their goals, and any other areas of potential conflict. Such a simple tool, but one of which I was unaware last time I outlined. In fact, I wasn’t even consciously asking the questions last time.

Now you may be aware of GMC charts already (or not), or you may not like to use structured tools (I do, because hey, let’s face it, I’m a lawyer and that’s how I think) but I assure you there is more to learn that just GMC charts, and you can apply the knowledge without using the structured tools if that’s your preference.

After all, the important thing I really took away from that workshop was not the GMC chart, but the knowledge to ask the questions I asked. Answering the questions can be done in a multitude of ways, in whatever manner best suits your writing process, but you can’t answer a question you don’t know to ask.

So if you haven’t already done so, go! Study! And learn. If you have used workshops, what did you study, and did you find it valuable?

For a list of the workshops I have attended, please visit my website!

 

CIARA BALLINTYNE

The cracks in our souls bleed darkness. High fantasy. Poignant. Immersive. Gripping.

EMAIL – info@ciaraballintyne.com
WEBSITE – http://ciaraballintyne.com
TWITTER – @CiaraBallintyne 

And I couldn't resist: 

Meet My Editor Extraordinaire

In March, I wrote a guest post for Ciara Ballintyne's 'Somebody Has To Say It' blog about finding an editor.  It took me about six weeks and I finally found one that I was willing to trust my infant to.  As Ciara commented at the end of my guest post, 'Word of mouth is a powerful thing.'  So, it was risky of her to take me on, knowing I would be blogging to the world about her services, good or bad, but she did.   Being a good sport and taking that chance got her a few points right up front.

 

Now I shall eat a bit of humble pie and say that I did not follow my own advice exactly.  However, everything is a learning experience, so let me tell you how I made my decision.

1)Price-Yes, I am price conscious.  I am on a budget and I would rather pay a moderate amount than a higher amount. Sue me for being poor.  And I know that many of you will throw out the tired, old saying 'you get what you pay for'.  That is bull.  I've bought some pretty amazing things at discount stores---you just have to be willing to take your time and shop around. 

I'm not saying my new editor is low priced---not at all.  But, moderately priced, which I think is fair to both of us.

 

2) Experience- She is new to editing, which I don't have a problem with.  She does have four or five full manuscripts in different genres under her belt and quickly provided me with those customers names and email addresses to contact.  But she is a writer, and a good one.  Her website has several examples of her work, and after reading them, I was fairly confident that she could help me with my manuscript, And They Call Me Crazy.

3) Attitude- This is something that I didn't touch on in my original post, but I am going to now.  My editor was excited about my project, from reading the brief blurb through the entire process.  Her energy and enthusiasm made me feel like we were partners, I had someone I could discuss the manuscript with as she edited. Writing is a lonely sport, and it's nice to finally have a teammate.

4)Website- If you read my original post, you know that I have a 'thing' for wanting to see someone's website.  It tells me you are serious about the job, even if you are just starting out.  My new editor's website is professionally done and has no spelling or grammar errors!  You may find that a strange thing to be excited about, but after going over several, looking for my perfect match, you have no idea how many mistakes I found.  As I said in the original post, I can make those errors all by myself, I need an editor that can find them, not make them.

But those are all factors in choosing and editor.  The big question is, after editing And They Call Me Crazy, how do I feel about her?

 

I am thrilled! A writer and a good editor form a relationship, one built on honesty and respect.  It takes a team effort to produce an amazing piece of work.  You must have a partner that is willing to help you take it to the next level.  My editor, and yes, she will be my editor again and again, not only helped me improve my work, but helped me improve it more than I had anticipated.  She exceeded my expectations, which is difficult to do, because I've been told more than once that I'm a tough one to please.  But she did it.  All hail the Editor Extraordinaire. 

 

So who is this Wonder Woman of Words, this Energizer Bunny of Editing, this Goddess of Grammar?

 

Her name is Rebecca Mahoney and you can find her here:  www.rebeccamahoney.com

And I hope you do check her out when you need an editor, because every writer needs one. No matter how good you think your work is, how engaging your neighbor found the plot or how interesting and complex your mother finds the protagonist, a second (or third, or fourth) set of eyes to go over it is necessary.... As a person who spends a lot of time editing for others, I would never claim that I don't need one myself.  I do.

 

But I've found my perfect match.

While you're clicking around, check out my books on my website.

And don't forget to read my original post about finding an editor, which also talks about a Victorian era, sex-starved, zombie dragon.  How can you resist that?

Dam Dragon

I have been editing, revising, slashing, adding, rewording and reworking my WIP for several months now, and my deadline to have it 'finished' is October 25th. As I get closer to that date, it seems the fine tuning, getting the details 'just right', is the most difficult part of the entire process for me.  I have lived in the 1931 desert for almost two years, at least on paper, and I am so familiar with it, that I have become lost in the intimacy. 

Time for a change of scenery.

I often talk about moving my 'writing desk' to different places.  In the past year, I've written at the lake, in the desert, on a boat, in a plane, at a boxing match, in a hospital cafeteria, etc.  But, I'm not talking about that kind of change of scenery.  I'm talking about getting out of my world and spending some time in another.

Recently, Ciara Ballintyne, a twitter friend, asked if anyone would critique a short story she had written. I knew that Ciara wrote in the fantasy genre, and although I do read a lot while I'm writing, I tend to stay within my time period, or read authors whose styles are similar to my own.  At the time Ciara offered her story up for review, I was tired of beating my head against a wall with my own WIP and agreed to read it.  I needed to step out of my routine.

It was a beautifully written fantasy piece with dragons and fire and sirens, not at all what you would find in my current WIP.  It took me, temporarily, to a different place: a different world.

Since I was critiquing and not just reading for pleasure, I had to dive into that world for a bit. I had to analyze it, critically.  I had to be the thief, the dragon, the demon half-breed and the priest in order to see what they saw.  I enjoyed the story and the diversion, but when I went back to my own WIP, I discovered something else. 

Going to a different world for a bit forced me to see my own work with new eyes.  Eyes that now hungered for the color, the fear and the magic of other worlds.  Granted, I can't have a dragon swoop down on the Hoover Dam and set everything afire, but there were other formidable dangers that were just as daunting to my characters.  I can't really insert a magic-slinging evil fairy, but my villain could sling a few things of his own.  I went back through the first half of my manuscript and added more color and more fear.  It took only a few words, a few sentences here and there to heighten the drama and add that little extra bit of magic.  

As a writer, you do have to immerse yourself in your work and at times become the character and see what they see.  But it's also important to step out of that world and view it as a whole.  Sure, I could assume the role of a bystander atop a mountain looking down into the Black Canyon.  But thanks to a temporary vacation to another world, instead, I flew through the canyon on the back of a scaly red dragon. 

What a view.

Visit Ciara Ballintyne's website at: http://ciaraballintyne.com/