Five More Revision Tips!

11.    Challenge the last paragraph. Does it leave the reader satisfied?
12.    Challenge every line that you love. Too much telling and not enough showing?
13.    Do you really need those exclamation points? The dialogue should be emphasis enough.
14.    Rethink underlined and italicized words. They should stand on their own.
15.    Be alert for every cliched word or phrase, every overused or unnecessary modifier.

Hope these help. The last five will be published soon! (Yes, I needed that exclamation point)

More Tips on Revision

A sunny day! I've done my first rewrite, and finished the last chapter. Now, the next time through, I'll concentrate solely on the five senses. Here're the next five tips in doing your revisions:

6.   Don't generalize...BE SPECIFIC! Choose the right words.
7.   Challenge every adverb (they take away from the verb. Choose the best ONE word.
8.   Challenge every adjective. Is it redundant?
9.   Replace passive voice verbs with active ones that are immediate, clear, and vigorous.
10. Challenge the first paragraph. Does your book start with action? The day that was different?

More to come...

Shifting Gears

Yes, I know I said we'd come back to Character Creation. Instead, I started on the Revision steps, because I was having trouble with the last chapter. This tells you that there's no right or wrong way. The writing process is an individual thing. That's why you can take suggestions from other writers that seem to fit your muse, and you can reject those that do not. No guilt. Use whatever fits the way you work. And yes, we'll get back to character creation after all the Revision tips are posted.

Revisions: What to Remember

How's the New Year going? I'm posting steps to a good revision process. Here are the first five:

1) Use as many of the five senses as you can in EVERY scene.
2) Don't let your description bring your narrative to a halt.
3) Along the same lines, don't spend too much time describing nonessential
     surroundings.
4) Description should add to the story.
5) Don't squander the reader's attention by focusing on an inconsequential action.

When doing the revisions on your book, you may have to go back through a dozen times, or more. It's easier to take one or two things you want to change or add during each time through, rather than going through once, and trying to remember twenty things you may need to address.

Sneaking up on Writers' Block

I'm almost done with the rough draft of my new novel. However, I'm having trouble concentrating on that last chapter. I know what I want to happen, and how it will end, but couldn't put it down on paper. It's important to keep that creative process going, so I decided to begin my revisions with Chapter One instead. That way, I can become immersed in the story as I go along, and sneak up on that last chapter. If you find yourself faced with a creative block, come at it from another direction until you break free. Once, in a very traumatic time in our family's life, I couldn't write at all. I felt lost without that creativity as part of my day. I decided to create a comic strip, based on our pet dachshund, Scooter. I had to study all kinds of drawing books, practice for hours, and then to write down the ideas that would fill a comic strip for a year before I could begin the actual strip. In the end, I realized I didn't really want to meet the deadlines of a strip, but by then, I was able to go back to writing books. Where there's a will, there's a way.

How to Face the New Year

Hello Friends. There are lots of changes coming in our economy, society, and world as a whole. Don't be afraid. The only constant is change. Maybe these changes, though they'll be difficult, will be the only way America can learn to become hard-working, honest, and strong again. Perhaps we will have to start over, in a way, as a nation, and maybe that's not a bad thing. By counting our blessings daily, we can face and survive any challenges that lie ahead. There's a bigger picture that we may not see yet. What's really important to you? That's the thing to concentrate on, whether it's job, family, friends, etc. Let your optimism soar!