Here are my unfinished NaNoWriMo novels, as reported yesterday, and how I’d rank them on a scale of 1 to 10 pounds of James Patterson novels, with 1 being “Don’t bother” and 10 being “Get James Patterson to co-author this ASAP.”
Low Desert. Not much meat on this one. I envisioned a literal interpretation of the Rapture, or something like it, with characters meeting in the desert at the end for some undefined purpose. Rating: 3 pounds of James Patterson novels.
The Dream of the Buckford Church. Other than the hook of “weird shit happening in a creepy old mountain church” and the main character being drawn to it in a dream, there was little else here. Some sort of ritual stuff that needed to be stopped, maybe? Still, I liked the dreamy/terror vibe it had going in the short story version. Rating: 4 pounds of James Patterson novels.
The Mean Mind. The most complete of all of the unfinished novels, the overall story was actually outlined (even if it got vague toward the end), but was maybe a bit too grand in scope. Scaling it back might make it work better. Rating: 7 pounds of James Patterson novels.
The Start of the World. Ignoring the unintended riffing off The Dark Tower, this had a good hook, a sense of doom/world collapse, but the specifics were mostly ignored. Rating: 6 pounds of James Patterson novels.
Weirdsmith. Sort of a latter-day The Dead Zone, except this car accident survivor finds a blank journal that lets him write things that actually happen. I had nothing more than this to go on, so there’s much work to do here. Rating: 3 pounds of James Patterson novels.
Last Exit. The initial premise was worked out, but the overall outline was never completed. The character finds himself slipping through portals into a desert, among other places, before always returning back to his bed/waking, while someone or something acts as a guide of sorts. For what purpose? you got me! Rating: 2 pounds of James Patterson novels.
The clear standout here in The Mean Mind, which has the bonus of also having a cool title with multiple meanings. In my next post I discuss how viable reviving it is, and talk about some of the other story ideas I have kicking around.
A story begins with an idea. It might be something as simple as an image, a “What if?” scenario, a certain type of character demanding to speak. But all stories start somewhere and it’s not usually via a helpful muse bringing the story down from the heavens on a velvet pillow, fully-formed and only needing the writer to simply record its magnificence via keyboard, typewriter or legal pad (R.I.P. Harlan Ellison).
Sometimes brainstorming can yield worthy nuggets. Other times it’s better for its entertainment value. Or attempts at entertainment value.
Keeping a journal of ideas (or the modern tech equivalent, like a note-taking app) can work.
Occasionally you can reach into the past, to unfinished or unsatisfying projects and either finish or rework them. For NaNoWriMo this would be cheating, but you’re in no danger of having a NaNo police officer arrest you for breaking the writing law.
I’ve drawn on all of these things to write stories, both for NaNo and otherwise. My success has been inconsistent and when a story dies, it is usually a long, drawn-out process. Usually it’s because the story loses direction–through lack of planning. The lack of planning is often rooted in a fear that plotting things out will kill both spontaneity and interest. This isn’t true, but like most fears, it’s hard to shake off.
Last year’s effort, which yielded a record zero words, was based on two things: a title and a vague, one-line elevator pitch. This is not enough. There’s no way this would ever be enough, unless some kind of writing miracle followed on November 1. And on the next 29 days. That did not happen.
The option that gives me the most to work with from the outset is to revive a stalled or incomplete story. My NaNo history is littered with these:
2010: Low Desert. This was originally a short story called “Hello?” about a man who returns from a camping trip to find the city–and presumably the world–empty of all people. I wrote very little on this for NaNo and the short story ending wouldn’t work for a novel-length treatment. I had loosely planned out the rest of the story, but ran out of gas before getting very far.
2011: The Dream of the Buckford Church. Also originally a short story. This really didn’t go anywhere and my ideas for the expanded version were as vague and mysterious as the short story (not a good thing).
2012: The Mean Mind (winner) I wrote 50,000 words on this so yay me. But I didn’t actually finish the story. This one I outlined to a certain extent, but I had some doubts about some big plot elements and the ending was still ill-defined (do you see a trend here?)
2013: The Start of the World. A guy who can see glimpses of a parallel version of our world is told by a mysterious truck driver that he is going to “restart the world.” There will be three signs, then off he goes! As a high concept, it worked and I wrote several chapters, but I had on idea where it would go, other than somehow he would keep the different worlds from intersecting, which would be really bad. I wrote this while reading The Dark Tower series and it definitely shows.
2015: Weirdsmith. This has a somewhat convoluted history. It started as an (unfinished) play and the title character was a psychotic killer insinuating himself into the lives of a couple who “rescue” him when they find him injured in the woods. Somehow it evolved into a story about a man who nearly dies in a car crash and after a long recovery finds a blank journal and when he writes in it, things happen. What things? Details, details. It’s like the first half of a really exciting elevator pitch and then the person giving the pitch gets out of the elevator and you never see them again.
2016: Last Exit (or Last Stop). I love altered reality stories. This one had a guy in tech support start noticing lots of small details in his daily life seeming a bit off. Eventually, he starts following a strange cat that leads him to a weird buzzing blue portal that leads him into a desert. He always seems to end up waking up in bed, so he becomes convinced he’s just having a weird dream or dreams, but eventually things start to happen that blur the lines between the waking world and what he thinks are dreams. And then who knows, because I never got past the first few scenes.
As you can see, this list has a recurring theme of “What the hell happens next/how does this all end?” Trying to tease out which one would be the “easiest” to finish won’t be easy, but I will try…tomorrow.
I am not ready to commit to NaNoWriMo 2018 just yet, but I do have a plan to follow, should I decide to do so. Here it is:
Have a plan
This is to say, not only have an idea, but have a story ready and planned out in advance
Planning means outlining. Outlining the whole thing. Even the ending.
Choose the writing program to be used
Current candidates: WriteMonkey, Scrivener, Atomic Scribbler, iA Writer
Develop a proper save/backup scheme that won’t result in corrupted files and a sad author
Do more testing of dictation to help speed up the first draft process
Write 50,000 words in 30 days between November 1-30, 2018
This concludes my plan.
I’ve highlighted the most important part in bold.
Winging in–called pantsing by NaNoWriMo folks–has not just failed for me in past attempts, it’s failed spectacularly. See my 2017 summary for an example. This year I am going to outline my story in advance. If I don’t have this done by November 1, I will not take part. Instead I will post an amusing cat picture on this blog that is somehow writing-related. Maybe I’ll do that, anyway.
Tomorrow I’ll post some of the story ideas I’m mulling.
I love short books on writing, it’s so easy to blast through them and then apply their lessons–provided they include advice on overcoming procrastination, of course.
Weiland’s slim how-to covers everything from cultivating the mindset for ideas, establishing good habits and how to deal with the inevitable feelings of “my writing sucks now and forever more.”
The specific tips for avoiding writer’s block itself are copious and for the most part familiar to anyone who may have read similar guides, ranging from the easy to follow (“Take a break”) to the may-need-a-few-tries-to-work (“Show up every day” and “Just start typing”).
This is another perfectly fine book for a new author to peruse, or for anyone who yearns to write but is unhappy with both the quality and quantity of their output. There’s nothing revelatory, but Weiland’s writing style is light, engaging and the brevity of the work (and use of lists) makes it serve as a handy reference you can return to time and again
Recommended.
Now I just need to write something other than reviews on writing books. 😛
On a whim I plugged in my old Filco 87-key keyboard with brown switches to see how they felt after not using the keyboard for awhile and it’s actually better than I remember. The keys are tactile without the same CLACK as blues, but still satisfying to a certain degree, and less noisy.
With the Filco still plugged in and in the mood for some typing, I did a search for “learn to type” and landed at typingclub.com. It was eager to invite me to take the first lesson, which consisted of typing F and J a lot (the home keys, as the billions of people who can touch type already know). I dutifully went through Lesson 1 and got the following results:
I’m not sure what real accuracy is, other than the apparent opposite of fake accuracy. But look, I passed all the requirements and was invited to move on. This scares me, because Mavis Beacon started out very encouraging, too, before basically saying I was slow and a bit dumb, but I’ll let you skip ahead so you don’t cry and make a scene, okay?
26 wpm compares to my usual three-fingers-look-at-the-keyboard-a-lot method’s average of 45 wpm or so. The gap between the two is sadly not that great to close, testimony to how slow I currently type.
I may try Lesson 2 or another program, or just recall Mavis’s cruel smile and switch to voice dictation. We’ll see.
This is a perfectly cromulent book on outlining a novel and Fox goes into detail on two popular methods, the traditional three-act approach and the perhaps less-familiar story circle.
Running with the gardening metaphor, Fox provides step-by-step instructions and illustrates them with examples from several popular movies (relying primarily on Star Wars) and also drawing from his own work–including examples where he failed, and then learned from the failure.
Each chapter has exercises to follow at the end and Fox knows a lot of people will just read straight through, so he has thoughtfully included all exercises again at the end of the book.
Overall, there’s not much more you could ask for in a book about outlining a novel. Fox explains everything in a clear manner, provides examples, and even throws in a bit of neuroscience here and there. Despite all this, I never found the book overly engaging, perhaps because I’ve always resisted outlining my stories–and I can’t claim they’ve been better for this lack, either.
Still, don’t let my own indifference sway you–this is a well-constructed template on how to outline a novel and would serve any new novel writer well.
This is the second book I’ve read recently about how to greatly increase the volume of your writing. I note with some irony that both books have been very slim.
I was surprised that 2K to 10K had so little overlap with 5,000 Words Per Hour, so in a way the two books complement each other nicely.
Rachel Aaron offers some very specific advice that can be distilled down to two words: plan everything. And two more bonus words: track everything. She strongly advocates outlining a novel before diving in as the key to being more productive in your writing and boosting your daily word count. Unlike Chris Fox’s book, Aaron draws repeatedly from her own work to illustrate her tips, and it works to good effect, while also adding a more personal touch to the advice.
Like Fox, she is clearly enamored of her methods and the success they have brought her, and that enthusiasm is just as infectious here as it is in 5,000 Words Per Hour. You want to immediately dive in and follow the approach she advocates.
The second half of the book is a bit more of a traditional how-to, covering (and endorsing) the classic three-act structure, going over techniques on editing–here I find it interesting that she doesn’t let her beta readers look at her story until she is done with it, arguing that it’s not fair to have them offer feedback on what is still a work-in-progress.
There are no exercises here, unlike 5,000 Words, so the expectation is to take the advice and run with it.
Overall, a quick read and well worth it for both new writers or those who find themselves struggling with the process of simply getting words down in a regular, consistent manner.
Awhile back I wrote why I would not be subscribing to Ulysses after having paid for both the iOS and Mac versions of the program. Essentially I said that Ulysses was already functional, so I couldn’t imagine them adding enough on an ongoing basis to justify constantly feeding money to the company behind it.
According to their own website, here are the features added in versions 12 and 13, the two that have released since the switch to a subscription model, with my comments on each:
image previews (nice, but inessential)
drag and drop (iOS) (supporting OS functionality should not be a paid feature)
improved code blocks (improving base functionality)
syntax highlighting (don’t care–and there are about a billion line editors out there that already have this and don’t require a sub)
colored keywords (nice, but inessential)
“full-colored” image previews (wow, color in 2018, how remarkable)
single library (iOS) (inessential)
multi-pane editing (iOS) (inessential)
library focus (iOS) (this is actually kind of absurd–it’s the equivalent to hiding files/folders in the Finder)
“fully optimized” for iPhone X (because I’m totally writing my next novel on the iPhone X)
new editor theme (inessential)
These three are all related to the goal-setting feature:
deadlines (inessential)
daily goals (nice, but still inessential)
goal writing history (eh…)
You can see I’m indifferent to most of these new features. As I said in my post last year, Ulysses was already an outstanding writing app and there was nothing I felt it really lacked. Yes, you can always come up with more “nice to have” features, but the core program was and remains feature-complete at a base level.
If you ask me if I would pay $25 on top of the money I’d already sunk into the program to get the above features, my answer would be no.
If you ask me if I would pay $50 (the normal going rate–and the only one available to me now) on top of the money I’d already sunk to get the above features, I would offer a clipped laugh, or perhaps make a quiet choking sound.
One year into its subscription model and Ulysses demonstrates what a poor fit it is. All improvements and feature updates are welcome, of course (assuming they don’t introduce bugs or affect the core functionality negatively), but there just isn’t much value to be had here, because the program was already complete when they changed revenue models.
Addendum: On the Canadian App Store Ulysses does not appear in the Top 200 list for Free Productivity apps. A few other writing apps do, such as Google Docs, Microsoft Word and even Bear at #194 (another dubious value, IMO, as it also requires a sub). Meanwhile, the pay-once-and-it’s-yours Scrivener is #44 in the Top 200 Paid Productivity apps list. Things that make you go, “Hmm…”
I decided to give voice dictation/speech recognition a serious try for my writing, to see if it actually works as well as its advocates suggest.
I didn’t want to use my gaming headset because I didn’t really want to wear a headset at all, if possible, so I looked into desktop mics.
I picked up a Blue Yeti USB microphone during Amazon’s Prime sale, both due to its sale price and its generally stellar reputation. I can use it for dictation, podcasts (if I had anything to talk about) and karaoke (if I want to annoy others and embarrass myself, or perhaps become the next Justin Bieber, except older, with better legs and fewer run-ins with the law).
This thing is gigantic. And it’s heavy enough to use as a weapon. A lethal weapon. But set up is dead (ho ho) simple and initial testing confirms it’s working just dandy. If I get some quality alone time this weekend (voice dictation is not something you want to do with others around, because it’s likely to bug them and make you look a little weird, to boot) I intend to give this thing a shot, probably starting off with Google Docs, as it has integrated speech. If I am convinced of its worth, I may move onto getting some flavor of Dragon Naturally Speaking (and how naturally does a dragon speak, anyway?)
From there I would also consider an app for the phone to record when I am out and aboot, or even get a digital voice recorder, which could later be played back into the appropriate software in order to transcribe my recordings.
It’s kind of exciting because it’s an approach I’ve never done before, but it could always be one of those crazy things that just doesn’t work for me, like touch typing, swimming or programming. I’ll find out soon.
This very short book provides some basic advice for how to crank out more words for writing. Some of it may come off as the “well, duh” variety, but it’s presented earnestly, enthusiastically, and with no filler.
And that’s my biggest criticism of the book. Fox deliberately eschews providing personal anecdotes to fill out the book and it feels unnecessarily lean as a result. There are a few references to the neuroscience behind some of the techniques discussed, but little else. Still, for someone struggling to write more and to write more consistently, you can’t go wrong with the advice, which comes down to:
Write in sprints. This is something that is strongly encouraged for National Novel Writing Month (which Fox mentions), where your goal is to write without stopping to edit or even fix typos. If your writing sprint is 20 minutes, you write for 20 minutes, always pushing ahead, never going back. That comes when you specifically go back to edit, which Fox himself only does after finishing the complete manuscript.
Write sprints regularly, preferably daily and for at least an hour.
Track sprints using a spreadsheet (Fox links to one he created if you are not inclined to create your own).
Avoid all distractions when writing. Fox suggests indulging/checking things like email before beginning your sprint.
Create a space for your writing. This is not just a physical space, but a time and place where you will not be disturbed, such as very early in the morning when all sensible people are still in bed.
Develop a positive mindset, allowing yourself to see the possibilities of what accomplishing your goals will look like. Also, improve your life beyond writing to boost your overall frame of mind.
Learn to type faster. This is probably the main “Well, duh” piece of advice, but he makes a valid point. Typing 5,000 words per hour amounts to 83 words per minute. If your typing speed maxes out at 50 WPM, you have a problem there.
Do your fingers fail you (mine certainly do)? He also suggests dictation software for writing, noting that most people can speak much faster than they can type, and as sprints aren’t intended for editing, it’s a perfect fit for cranking out great loads of words. I’ve seen dictation software mentioned before by other authors, and am now intrigued enough to consider testing it.
Overall, despite its slim size, this is a good book full of sensible advice and tips. Recommended.
I sat down at the computer tonight to write about…something. I’m not sure what, as it was one of those “see what happens when I start typing and find a funny cat picture if all else fails” sessions.
Instead, I somehow ended up doing another look at distraction-free writing software. Note this is distinct from markdown editors (which number in the millions now), though a program casn be both. Most of the apps I’ve tried before have been updated, though none with revolutionary new features that radically change or improve them. I didn’t see anything new that was compelling.
I continue to be vexed by the simple lack of first line indentation on most of these programs. This is a common feature in word processors–you’d be hard-pressed to find one without it, but official markdown does not support indented paragraphs. You want to separate paragraphs? You’ll hit the Enter key twice and you’ll like it!
But a few programs have included both. WriteMonkey 2.7 for Windows does. Alas, the author, busily working on version 3 (currently in beta) has said he will not be supporting this in the new version:
Right now wm follows markdown rules, i.e. Double return is new paragraph, single return is soft line break. First line indentation is not supported in wm3.
Sad trombone.
Ulysses supports both markdown and first line indents, but switched to a subscription model and is Mac-only.
Another sad trombone.
Scrivener has no problem with this and has a Composition Mode that is meant for distraction-free writing. And I’m okay with it, I just still have fears that the program will gobble up my text with no hope for recovery, having had that happen once several years ago (I’m willing to admit it in part user error and I know more now than I did back then. Still, it makes me nervous).
Having looked again at some others, I can eliminate the following based on my own peculiar needs and preferences:
iA Writer. An otherwise decent minimalist editor, it now has a Windows version–yay–but still doesn’t handle indents. It sort of supports them if you import or paste in a document with them, but that’s a clunky and unreliable hack. It’s a shame, because the program is fast and looks great.
WriteMonkey 3 (beta). As noted above, no support is planned for indents.
Q10 does support indents–but it only runs full screen and was last updated in 2011.
Quoll Writer has an interface that weirds me out. It supports indents, though I couldn’t find out how. Also, when I try to update it, it downloads the update and is supposed to install it when you exit the program, but nothing happens, so I dunno!
Typora. It supports indents, but only if you edit a theme. Kind of awkward and there’s nothing about Typora that makes it seem especially worth having to tinker with it for basic functionality. It’s not too bad, though.
Ulysses. Subscription model–boo. Mac-only. Also boo.
yWriter has an interface that scares me. I appreciate the depth it brings, but I’m not a fan of windows/frames all over the place. This is kind of like maximalist software.
FreeWriter has a paid version, so the name is a bit deceptive, though technically you can use the free version forever if you’re fine with the limitations. The UI is tab-happy and non-standard and sometimes aesthetics matter, even when it may seem less than rational.
Abricotine sounds like a medication or maybe a liqueur. Preferences are in a config file you must edit. Also no indents.
UPDATE: The author of WriteMonkey replied back to a discussion thread, saying there is still hope for a first line indent feature eventually: “It is possible. I received so many requests to allow first line indentation that I’ll do it eventually. It is not trivial to do it since changes to 3rd party libraries are necessary.”
Now onto the remaining contenders:
Scrivener. Pretty much does everything, my main concern as expressed above, is that I might lose work due to a saving snafu, especially now that most of the saves are in the ephemeral cloud.
GhostWriter. A markdown editor that sort of supports first line indentation. It allows you to set a tab as x number of spaces, and once invoked, it will continue to pseudo-indent every paragraph otherwise. Still, there’s not much support here for long form documents, so I’m not sure.
WriteMonkey 2.7. This is the current version and I’ve used it a lot without issue. My main concern now is it’s EOL and so won’t receive support if there are issues. It’s also a tad fiddly, though quite powerful.
Microsoft Word. There’s always good old Word, but I really don’t like not being able to see the plumbing behind the words, because it’s a mess back there. If the formatting goes awry it can be a daunting challenge to fix things. It can be run in a sort of distraction-free mode and headers can be used to act like chapters for navigation. Still, meh.
[unknown contender here]
In all likelihood, I’ll keep using Scrivener for now and see how it goes. The Windows version is still in beta but should be caught up to the stable Mac release sometime in the next few months (my hunch is the beta that will launch at the end of this month will be the final one before release. But I’ve been wrong a grabillion times before).
