Book's Out - Now What?
Posted by Andie Ryan Blog at 10/28/2009 1:38 PM 
Categories: The Second Novel,Writing Life
Tags: editing book promotion fiction outline outline writing writing workshop critique revision writing workshop writer vocabulary
Categories: The Second Novel,Writing Life
Tags: editing book promotion fiction outline outline writing writing workshop critique revision writing workshop writer vocabulary
This is what post-partum depression must be like.
Your book is done. It's enjoying some nice reviews and word of mouth. Signings are winding down and you're starting to make appearances at conferences and other group meetings. In the words of Larry David, you're feeling "pretty, pretty good."
Then someone asks about your next book.
"My what?"
Jarred back to the reality of remembering what you actually want to do OTHER than promote your own book, you sit down at the PC or with your pen.
And you sit some more
Where'd all the words go?
If you're doing your own book promotion, it's a lot of work. Advance reader copies, organizing signings and other events, talking with the media. But sooner or later, you have to get back to writing.
It's not so easy.
The words don't just float onto the page as they did with your most recent revision of a well-established draft. It'll take some time to get back into writing mode, especially if you're starting something new with new characters, or something new with familiar characters in different circumstances.
Remember that it took time to know your characters as people, time for them to make their own decisions, so to speak, and time for their behaviors to really get into sync with their motivations. This is an important process, and one that can't be rushed -- like getting to know real people. You'll get there again, but remember that it took some effort the last time, and you're just re-starting your engines.
Begin with an outline?
Once you decide on the story you want to tell, try working through a brief outline of major plot points -- the things you're sure of, the questions you have, and the actions you feel strongly about.
Some writers don't like to use outlines, because they feel they're then committed to a specific course of action or plot or cast of characters. The other thing, of course, is that there may be a sense of failure if the actions and characters committed to in the outline change later on. Don't believe it -- that's not failure. That's revision.
The outline gets you started -- you're still the writer, and you're still in control (at least until your characters start acting on their own). It's a tool, similar to a good vocabulary or a workshop critique. Use it as such. It's also as dynamic as you want it to be, and can be used to trace your decisions and even your reasons for specific plot lines and characters as you progress through your work. It can change as your story evolves and grows. And...you can go back to it if you -- much later -- decide to return to an original plan or an earlier outline.
I use a spreadsheet to identify point of view characters, their major actions, and their motivations. Most importantly for me, I begin by identifying "scenes" that I envision for the characters. This starts small, but builds on itself very rapidly as you construct your story. A spreadsheet also helps with sequencing, if a particular action must precede or follow another.
If you're familiar with Excel, you can also "sort" a spreadsheet by each specific character to check the timeline of specific actions, or by chapter number if you number each line on the spreadsheet accordingly. You can sort data to determine whether you're overloaded with chapters in one particular character's point of view, or whether you have too many point of view chapters from the same character one right after the other. I also used color coding when I got to the final drafts, to be able to visualize how "balanced" the story was relative to the point of view characters. This helped me with how certain chapters flowed into others, and significantly improved the novel's continuity.
How many of you find outlines useful?
Use other writing projects to get back into a routine
If you blog, write blogs more frequently. Writing press releases and pitch letters also help reestablish a writing routine, and using writing exercises from a workshop or critique group will help get the fiction wheels turning. Signing up for a workshop will also help establish some deadlines that you must work to meet, and of course spur you to create new work or revisit something you previously started.
Editing someone else's work, including the stories and chapters you get in workshops, helps to keep your revision skills sharp. It gets you back into examining a story's structure so that you're prepared when you raise that dreaded red pen against your own words.
Words, words, words
Build your vocabulary.
If you're writing on any level, you have a love of words. When I was studying for the GRE a couple of years ago, I acquired a long list of great words, and actually got turned on to an Oxford list of "difficult" words that are fun to study and think about incorporating into your work -- because you'll rarely see them outside of (some would say high falutin') literary fiction. These words can spark ideas about characters or behavior that may help solidify certain actions in your mind.
Palaver. Lugubrious. Sedulous. Nascent. Ganosis. Saprogenic.
I love going back to this list, and it always reminds me of a schoolmate in eighth grade who admitted to reading the dictionary. It's not so crazy (though it seemed pretty wacky back then).
Don't get discouraged
It's like going back to the gym when you've been away for a while. The first few times are tough. Painful. You ache morning and night.
But once you get into a rhythm, you feel better, you feel motivated to continue, and it gets easier. Remember you have one book under your belt, maybe more, and there are others inside of you.
Your book is done. It's enjoying some nice reviews and word of mouth. Signings are winding down and you're starting to make appearances at conferences and other group meetings. In the words of Larry David, you're feeling "pretty, pretty good."
Then someone asks about your next book.
"My what?"
Jarred back to the reality of remembering what you actually want to do OTHER than promote your own book, you sit down at the PC or with your pen.
And you sit some more
Where'd all the words go?
If you're doing your own book promotion, it's a lot of work. Advance reader copies, organizing signings and other events, talking with the media. But sooner or later, you have to get back to writing.
It's not so easy.
The words don't just float onto the page as they did with your most recent revision of a well-established draft. It'll take some time to get back into writing mode, especially if you're starting something new with new characters, or something new with familiar characters in different circumstances.
Remember that it took time to know your characters as people, time for them to make their own decisions, so to speak, and time for their behaviors to really get into sync with their motivations. This is an important process, and one that can't be rushed -- like getting to know real people. You'll get there again, but remember that it took some effort the last time, and you're just re-starting your engines.
Begin with an outline?
Once you decide on the story you want to tell, try working through a brief outline of major plot points -- the things you're sure of, the questions you have, and the actions you feel strongly about.
Some writers don't like to use outlines, because they feel they're then committed to a specific course of action or plot or cast of characters. The other thing, of course, is that there may be a sense of failure if the actions and characters committed to in the outline change later on. Don't believe it -- that's not failure. That's revision.
The outline gets you started -- you're still the writer, and you're still in control (at least until your characters start acting on their own). It's a tool, similar to a good vocabulary or a workshop critique. Use it as such. It's also as dynamic as you want it to be, and can be used to trace your decisions and even your reasons for specific plot lines and characters as you progress through your work. It can change as your story evolves and grows. And...you can go back to it if you -- much later -- decide to return to an original plan or an earlier outline.
I use a spreadsheet to identify point of view characters, their major actions, and their motivations. Most importantly for me, I begin by identifying "scenes" that I envision for the characters. This starts small, but builds on itself very rapidly as you construct your story. A spreadsheet also helps with sequencing, if a particular action must precede or follow another.
If you're familiar with Excel, you can also "sort" a spreadsheet by each specific character to check the timeline of specific actions, or by chapter number if you number each line on the spreadsheet accordingly. You can sort data to determine whether you're overloaded with chapters in one particular character's point of view, or whether you have too many point of view chapters from the same character one right after the other. I also used color coding when I got to the final drafts, to be able to visualize how "balanced" the story was relative to the point of view characters. This helped me with how certain chapters flowed into others, and significantly improved the novel's continuity.
How many of you find outlines useful?
Use other writing projects to get back into a routine
If you blog, write blogs more frequently. Writing press releases and pitch letters also help reestablish a writing routine, and using writing exercises from a workshop or critique group will help get the fiction wheels turning. Signing up for a workshop will also help establish some deadlines that you must work to meet, and of course spur you to create new work or revisit something you previously started.
Editing someone else's work, including the stories and chapters you get in workshops, helps to keep your revision skills sharp. It gets you back into examining a story's structure so that you're prepared when you raise that dreaded red pen against your own words.
Words, words, words
Build your vocabulary.
If you're writing on any level, you have a love of words. When I was studying for the GRE a couple of years ago, I acquired a long list of great words, and actually got turned on to an Oxford list of "difficult" words that are fun to study and think about incorporating into your work -- because you'll rarely see them outside of (some would say high falutin') literary fiction. These words can spark ideas about characters or behavior that may help solidify certain actions in your mind.
Palaver. Lugubrious. Sedulous. Nascent. Ganosis. Saprogenic.
I love going back to this list, and it always reminds me of a schoolmate in eighth grade who admitted to reading the dictionary. It's not so crazy (though it seemed pretty wacky back then).
Don't get discouraged
It's like going back to the gym when you've been away for a while. The first few times are tough. Painful. You ache morning and night.
But once you get into a rhythm, you feel better, you feel motivated to continue, and it gets easier. Remember you have one book under your belt, maybe more, and there are others inside of you.
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