Writing Struggles

The Importance of Word Count

/ kellyfbarr / Leave a comment

Why is there so much talk about how many words a writer writes?

Because words have meaning. They carry weight. They paint pictures, but they can also bog the reader or the story down.

Word count determines how long your story will be and that will determine whether it is a piece of Flash Fiction, a Short Story, a Novella, or a Novel. Yes, each of these has a range of acceptable word count.

So, should you write 1,000 words or less, 3,000-5,000 words, 30,000-45,000 words, 65,000-120,000 words? That depends on which of the items above you want to write. It may also depend on your genre or whether your are writing for Silhouette Romances or a Fantasy Novel, etc.

I have had people praise my writing. Several have told me, “You are a good writer. You don’t waste words. Every word you use counts.” Of course, that made me feel good. However, because of that, I have to be sure that I work hard to include the things my readers want in my writing as well as maybe include a few more scenes, which means coming up with a few more conflicts, in order to produce the proper-size novel.

What do I mean “what my readers want in my writing”? Well, my critique partners say I do not include enough description of things like the weather on a particular day or what a place looks like nor do I include enough of my characters’ internal thoughts.

Therefore, while others may have to cut words when they do their revisions, I will most likely have to add words/scenes.

What have you learned about your writing in regard to word count?

The Christian Controversy About Christian Fiction

/ kellyfbarr / 2 Comments

Christian writers constantly face the dilemma about whether or not to mention God or Jesus in their fiction or how much Biblical information and Christian morals should they put in their writing. They have to wrestle with the decision of trying to reach the unsaved or simply write for the Christian reader.

But what about the Christian reader and/or the traditional Christian publisher? If you write for this market, does your entire manuscript have to be squeaky clean? Do your characters have to be perfect? Do you have to be preachy?

Of course, almost everyone has a different opinion. I entered a contest for Christian writers a year or so ago and I am hoping that my novel will reach both Christian and non-Christian readers who like historical fiction stories that don’t have profanity, explicit sex, or excessive violence.

Does that mean my characters are perfect and the story squeaky clean? Absolutely not because real people would not be able to relate to such a character or story. We all make bad choices and have to live with the consequences, and those of us who live the Christian life also do our best to change our behaviors/choices for the better, but we all struggle.

So, back to this contest. My main character is an honorable man who believes in the Lord and tries to do what’s right, but like everyone else, he faces challenges and temptations. Very early in my story he tells a lie, but before the scene is over, he admits the truth. My submission to the contest didn’t go to the next level because one of the judges was highly offended that my main character–the hero of the story–tells a lie and gave me low scores in all areas because of it. The judge also proceeded to tell me that the Christian Hero in a story must be righteous and cannot do something like tell a lie. This judge also said that no traditional Christian publisher would publish such a story.

Now, since I still haven’t quite finished the story, I haven’t even begun to look for a publisher of any kind, but I do know that I will never create a perfect character for thee reasons: 1) I want my readers to be able to relate to my characters; 2) I want my characters to be realistic; and 3) I want my stories to be interesting and hold my reader’s attention/keep them turning the pages.

I know that I would not read a story in which the main character does not face any struggles and does not show growth and change by the end of the book because such a story would be boring!

What about you? What are your thoughts about Christian fiction — perfect characters or characters who struggle with some of the same things you struggle with?

Update on My Writing

/ kellyfbarr / 4 Comments

Yes, I’m skipping Flash Fiction Friday again this week. I’m sorry. I’m struggling with my writing right now, and here’s why:

I entered part of my novel in a contest that I felt was a worthwhile contest with a prestigious organization. I didn’t make it past the first level of judges, but that doesn’t bother me.

So, what does bother you? You may ask.

What bothers me is the fact that one of the judge’s feedback can be completely tossed out the window because the judge micro-focused on one thing that I had my character do that this judge felt was unacceptable without knowing how or if the character’s action would be redeemed by the end of the story,  and this judge ranted about it for most of the feedback and gave me a ridiculously low score because of it.

Now, I am not one who gets my feelings hurt about my writing very easily. I have learned how to be thick-skinned. I have been having people critique my work for two years. No, not this same manuscript. This is my second attempt at writing a novel in two years. The first one became trash when I tried to add 15,000 words to it in 30 days and it became so much of a mess, I felt it was just better to put it away and chalk it up as a learning experience.

The thing is, the other two judges who judged this same piece gave scores that were more closely related, and closer to what I figured I may score. They also offered some constructive criticism and neither of them mentioned the one thing the other judge couldn’t shift his or her focus from. I also had two different critique groups critiquing this WIP for months, and I have been working hard on revising and editing as I continue to work on the story itself, and I know that I have improved. Many of my critique partners have also pointed my improvement out.

However, the two judges who gave me worthwhile feedback made some good points; points that a couple of other people had also mentioned, which is a good thing.

So, you repeat, “What bothers you?”

What bothers me is how HARD writing is! So, if you are a newbie, be sure you understand WRITING IS HARD WORK — at least good writing; writing that readers will want to read; writing that you put your blood, sweat and tears into because YOU WANT TO BE THE BEST WRITER YOU CAN BE, not just a writer who writes a story and self-publishes without having anyone edit or critique the story just because they can. No, I WANT TO BE THE BEST WRITER I CAN BE, so I’ll be rewriting chapter one A-GAIN, and probably making a lot of changes throughout as I strive to complete this manuscript; to make it a story that READERS WILL WANT TO READ.

So, that means that this story will take me much longer than a year to complete. Yeah, NaNoWriMo may say you complete a novel in a month, but I got news for you, that’s just the ROUGH DRAFT! Then come the critiques and edits, at least one of the edits should be a “self edit”, and the critiques should be done by people you know and trust who know about writing. Then you should have an actual editor edit it and this all leads to MULTIPLE REWRITES! Then, if you really want your manuscript to be the best it can be, you send it to Beta Readers for feedback, and then revise and rewrite one more time! And then, if you’re lucky, it will finally be the best it can be and you can then publish it.

And, no, I did not participate in NaNoWriMo. Maybe some day I will, but right now, I have enough hard work to do on my writing without having to meet daily writing goals to finish a novel, that won’t be publishable in a month anyway.

How about you? Have you learned that WRITING IS HARD? Do you keep writing anyway? Have you done NaNoWriMo and what was that experience like?

A Thursday Tribute

/ kellyfbarr / 2 Comments

I have never done this before, but I really feel like I need to do this.  I want to pay tribute to two people who mean a lot to me because of their support and/or contributions to my writing life.

First of all, my husband.  I just have to say how much I appreciate the way that he shows his support for my writing.  How does he do this?

He never complains about my attending all of the monthly LCW (Lancaster Christian Writers) meetings that I want to attend, which is all of them, (smile).  In reality, I usually end up having to miss one or two because of family things that come up that take priority.  He also never complains when I find a free or inexpensive one-day writing event that I want to attend, and he doesn’t mind when I leave two, sometimes three evenings a week for two or three hours to get together with other writers for critique group or to write, brainstorm and encourage each other along our writing paths.  He doesn’t complain that I spend so much time writing and participating in writing related things and yet am still not adding to the family income.  He understands that it is a long process.  I am blessed to have a husband who quietly supports me and I greatly appreciate him.

The second person I want to pay tribute to is a fellow writer who has become a very dear friend and is moving to the other side of the country, Laura Zimmerman.  I met her at LCW but our bond of friendship began when she and I both attended a one day writing workshop in the private home of a complete stranger.  We were surrounded by strangers, and I think, because we recognized each other’s faces and knew we were both part of LCW, we both felt more comfortable and we sat together for the workshop and had some time to talk a bit and start to really get to know each other.

Then when I started the weekly writing group for those of us homeschool moms who often struggle with finding time to write without interruptions in our own homes, Laura soon became a regular part of that writing group, Scribes Oasis.  She has rarely missed a night of Scribes.  Laura also encouraged me in my ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) membership, as I was debating renewing my membership.  You see, ACFW is a national organization, and though we have a local chapter, most of the best resources of ACFW happen online, and for the first entire year, I didn’t really get involved in that online community.  Again, lack of time, as family takes priority.  Laura encouraged me because she was involved in a couple of the things that the online ACFW community offered.  So, I renewed my membership and have jumped into getting involved with both feet, and I’m loving it!

Through all of these wonderful writing groups, Laura has also encouraged me in my writing.  She has offered me great advice on my writing.  She has gotten excited about stories I have written or am writing.  She has helped me talk through some issues that came up in my writing that I wasn’t sure how to improve or write well.  Laura is a little bit ahead of me in the writing world, as this year, she obtained an agent and she has submitted three story proposals to this agent already.  He has already gone over the first one and told her what she needed to do to edit the story and improve it, and she literally pulled her story apart and put it back together again, and she believes it is better than the original.  It broke my heart to see her go through that, but her positive attitude through the whole thing and the happiness she shared about the finished edited product was quite an inspiration to me.  Also, the fact that she is a homeschool mom who still homeschools three children and still finds time to crank out stories, and now, devotionals and articles, amazes and inspires me and makes me believe that I can obtain those things too.  I just need to keep working.

So, when Laura leaves after Memorial Day weekend, I will miss her so much, but I am so thankful for today’s technology which will help us to be able to remain close friends who will still be able to encourage and help each other in our writing.  Thanks Laura for your friendship and your encouragement and support in my writing.  I know God has good things in store for you and your family wherever He leads you.

How about you?  Who is a big support and encouragement to you in your writing journey?

Some Great Writing Tips

/ kellyfbarr / Leave a comment

This past Saturday, I attended the Lancaster Christian Writers’ monthly meeting.  Laurie J. Edwards, who also writes under many pen names – one of which is Rachel Good, gave us some great information and had our minds churning about our current WIPs.

Three resources she suggested for writers are:  Inside Story by Dara Marks, Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, and The Anatomy of Story by John Truby.

Laurie shared that the two most commonly missed elements missed in novels are:  Character Arc and Theme (Moral Argument).  She shared that even fiction that is not specifically “Christian” should include a theme, otherwise a book may be popular for a while but it will eventually fade away.  She mentioned about current popular series for kids/teens that have great story lines and action; they keep the readers turning the pages, but at the end of the book, there’s no real takeaway because they lack a good, strong character arc or they lack a theme.  That’s why in about ten years or so, they will fade away; their popularity gone.

Laurie pointed out that all good stories should have the following pieces:

Premise:  logline, one sentence; essence of the story — every decision is based on this                          decision.

Theme:  Moral vision of how people should act in the world.  Express through action                          and story structure to surprise and move readers.

Central Conflict:  Who fights whom over what?

Fundamental Change in Character:  could the character at the beginning of the story                                                                                       do what he/she does at the end?  How and why is                                                                                     he/she different?

She shared the following from John Truby’s book, The Anatomy of Story:

Seven Steps of Story Structure

  1.  Weakness or need – moral and psychological; hero unaware of these flaws.
  2.  Desire – Story goal; must be intimately connected with need.
  3.  Opponent – not preventing hero from goal; wants the same goal.
  4.  Plan – defeat opponent and reach goal.
  5.  Battle – confrontations escalate until final conflict.
  6.  Self-Revelation – hero recognizes weakness
  7.  New equilibrium – fundamental and permanent change.

*Psychological Need: a flaw that only hurts the hero.                                                                              *Moral Need: a moral weakness that hurts others.

Her talk was filled with lots of great little tips and advice that had my friends and I really thinking about things we need to change in our current WIPs (work in progress) to make them better, or things to do to make our stories “unputdownable”.

Laurie has lots of experience as an author, speaker, and editor.  You can find out more about her and her books at https://lje1.wordpress.com/

How about you?  Have you heard or read any great writing tips or advice you’d like to share?

 

Writers’ Retreat #2

/ kellyfbarr / 3 Comments

On Saturday, we held our second writers’ retreat.  One of the ladies from our PA chapter of ACFW held it at her house, but it wasn’t strictly for ACFW members and we had a nice turn out.  There were nine of us this time.  If I’m not mistaken, that’s two more than last time.

I led another creative exercise in the morning to get our creative juices flowing.  Then we had a brainstorming session to talk about our current work in progress or any other writing project we thought we could use some brainstorming.  At first, I didn’t think I had anything I needed help with.  I don’t have any short projects in the works right now and I don’t seem to be struggling for blog posts either.  However, Lisa, the hostess, asked me questions that got me to thinking, and I decided to ask a question and share a scene from my current novel.  I’m glad I did because even though it was hard to hear something negative about the scene, it ended up being a big help, and the fact that we had a free writing session immediately following the brainstorming session gave me an immediate opportunity to rewrite the scene, making it much better.

After lunch, we had a lesson that Donna led about self editing.  I don’t mind saying I did not enjoy this lesson.  It was very difficult.  I know that self editing is important, and I also know why she had us do the lesson she had us do, but I still didn’t like it.  She had us choose a long paragraph from our current work in progress and count the words in it.  Then she gave us five minutes to cut that word count in half.  After that, she had us count the words again to see how we had done.  Then she gave us another five minutes to cut that number in half.  This exercise was an epic fail for me.  You see, I don’t have very many long paragraphs in my work in progress.  I struggle with including enough description to properly set my scenes, but am talented at writing good dialogue and action to keep the story moving.  Therefore, I am not an overly wordy writer so it was extremely difficult to cut a paragraph without removing important information.  I do understand the need to do this, though.  I watched a friend struggle through having to make a lot of cuts to her first novel according to her agent’s guidelines to attempt to find publishers who might be interested in publishing that novel for her.  She is extremely happy with the final results but she struggled and worked extremely hard to get there.

That is not to say that I am not willing to struggle and work hard to put out a really good final product, but I don’t think I will go about it the way that Donna had us do.  I know I will start by looking for all of the “over used” words.  You know, words we use over and over again because we tend to write like we talk or think.  I know I will have to change, cut and find synonyms to correct this problem.  I’m sure there will be other things I will have to cut as well, but I’m not really ready for that stage just yet and I need guidelines to be able to determine what really needs to be cut and what doesn’t.

How about you?  What have you experienced with self editing?

Procrastination

/ kellyfbarr / 3 Comments

To procrastinate is to go against the old saying, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

The Merriam-Webster definition of procrastinate is “to put off intentionally and habitually”; “to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done”.

I am constantly battling procrastination when it comes to my writing.  I make time to post here on my blog.  I make time for Facebook and Twitter.  Why do I keep procrastinating writing my novel?

I WANT to write my novel.  I LOVE the characters I have created for my novel.  I LOVE my plot line.  I LOOK FORWARD to having people read my novel.  I even have a plan that seems workable to create a schedule that would allow me to write 5 or 6 days a week.  So, what’s my problem?

I think I still have a mental block that I thought I had conquered.  When I was younger and braver and more confident in my writing I never procrastinated.  I finished every story I started back then.

It’s not that I’m not finishing stories now, but I’m taking much longer and it’s not just because I have other responsibilities.  However, I never received the encouragement I wanted or hoped for when I wrote without procrastination in my younger years.

Now, I have others who are encouraging me.  However, I wonder if I subconsciously take their helpful critiques as negative criticism, even though I seek their critiques.  Consciously I don’t feel like they are being negative or mean in any way.  I find their advice helpful for the most part, and I have learned when it is necessary to disregard advice that wouldn’t be helpful for improving my writing (I received good advice on how to tell the difference).

I really want to conquer this procrastination!

Have any of you struggled with this?  What have you found to be helpful to getting past your procrastination?  Please leave comments.  They will be greatly appreciated.