In One Week

In one week, I'm going to start with editing.  Editing the winners' projects, and editing Lost Ties (previously titled Sever).  Until then, I aim to get lots more written for LT's sequel, Revived Pasts.  (I still need better titles for these, but I have lots of time (if I ever plan to query (which isn't very likely)).)  I'll also be preparing for Camp NaNo in August.

Right now, RP is at approximately eight thousand words.  I hope to get it around twenty by next week.

When you have no internet, you can get a lot written.  And speaking of no internet, I plan on reading a book a day for the days I am off camping.  I probably won't actually read a whole book, but I will try to get at least two books read soon.

As I get more into reading, writing, and editing, I start to realize that I don't have that much time left until school starts.  Five weeks are left.  Two of those weeks will be spent away from home.  One week will be spent at my school's parking lot, preparing for the upcoming marching season.  So that leaves me with two weeks to spend my time.

And then I need to read more.

Yeah, this summer has been uneventful, and not.  I've completed a novel, and actually am writing the second in the same trilogy.  That's a first for me.  And I hope to win Camp NaNo within two to three weeks.  Probably two.

So, that's my writing update.  I hope to start posting writing tips and more book reviews.

For my writing challenge: I must write 12k in 7 days.  That's about 1.7k a day.  Achievable.

And now, to write!

Back From the Dead, Ye Come

First off, I want to say that it's rather weird that over 80% of my recent viewers are in Russia. Just a wee bit weird.

Last night, I had the urge to edit either one of my two completed first draft manuscripts, Nightland and Rush.  Of course, right after I had that thought, I decided to go clean out my desk, which resulted in a mess of my room.

Anyways, I decided to, first off, reformat Nightland so it was double spaced and in black font. Took a while, so now I can get to reading over that.  And the same goes for Rush, though I may save that for a few weeks longer.

And because all of the other pitches for Nightland are horrendous, I shall type a new one just for you:

Berlin has only ever visited Nightland in her dreams--or so she thought. Upon arriving in this land of dark, she's pulled off the streets and sent into hiding with friends she doesn't remember. Turns out, the evil ruler of the land is after her, for reasons no one knows.

She is quickly shepherded across the land, searching for an appropriate hiding place so she can learn the ways of the land. There isn't much time for her to learn anything as the ruler's minions scour the land, growing closer and closer to find her.

All Berlin wants is to go home and leave this mess behind, but in order to do that, she needs power doesn't have--yet.

Yeah, very lovely.  Nightland is a YA fantasy with aspects of romance at over 81k.  First novel I ever finished writing.  It was even finished one year ago, this month.  And needs a lot of work.

Now I shall be off to go make people (characters) nice and what not.

Happy Leap Day!

Today is a kinda sad day. It is the last day inkpop will be around, and I was only 9 days away from my 2 year anniversary!  Ah well, I guess I'll have to live.

But I think, at the moment, my writing's taken a big hit. I've always wanted to receive a review from HC, which was a pretty strong motivation to get things done, but now it's just like ... two more years until it is recommended that I can query (darn me for being so young, and agents wanting 17+ older query-ies if that's even a word). So, for now, I'll just try to finish my current works and see about

• editing them
• finishing a series
• and creating a writing/critique circle. You know, in published books, the author's always thanking a handful of people who helped critique the work? I wanna be in one of those. :o

And, I have no clue if I'll let people read my projects again. A handful of people who I email a lot, yes, but I don't know what else I'll do. (Speaking of which, I should email my friends the first chapter of Enigma  (Smolder rewrite)...)

Now I shall get to writing and help my mother make dinner. Happy Leap Day, and I hope all of you inkpoppers go far with your writing (same to everyone, too)! (And inkpoppers who need/want to contact me, I'm on wattpad.)

Why oh why...

So, with the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award coming very soon, I've decided that I will join.

But, I only have a week. And that's a maybe.

I am giving myself about a week to polish up Rush and write it a new pitch. Which really will be difficult, do to the little time I have at home.  Hopefully I can take my laptop to the hospital when I visit for the next week.  Hopefully I don't have whole lot of homework this week.

Starting today, I plan to enter ABNA.  Wish me luck, 'cause I'm definitely going to need it.

Do you have an Active or Passive Voice?

Do you know the difference between a passive or active voice in writing?

Well, you might know more than you think.

Why, you ask, is this important?

It’s rather important to writing style. Many writers write in the passive voice—at least, they do when they first start out. A better voice may be the active—it holds the reader’s attention better and, in a way, pulls the reader closer to the story. Like taking up the narrator’s shoes.

The voice of the story can remove excessive words and, like I said, hold the reader’s attention better. There is a lovely counterexample, of course: If I Stay by Gayle Foreman. That story is filled with passive voice, yet it is one of the best books I have ever read.

Do I have a good example for active voice? No, because most stories are written in the active voice, so it’s a normal thing to read.

I will, rather, show to excerpts: one written in passive voice, the other active. You can be the judge and pick which one sounds better to you. (Another excerpt from Rush, but altered.)

The guard is picking me up, turning around, and releasing me. I am catching myself from falling to my knees, my legs shaking from the drop. Once I am able to stand, I am looking Dr. Reed in the eye, trying hard to keep glaring at him. His face is lacking emotions, his usual smile not there. I am staring up at him, then looking away, not liking how his smile isn’t there.

The guard picks me up, turns around, and releases me. I catch myself from falling to my knees, my legs shaky from the drop. Once I’m able to stand, I look Dr. Reed in the eye, trying hard to keep glaring at him. His face lacks emotions, his usual smile not there. I stare up at him, then look away, not liking how his smile isn’t there.

Of course, I always write in the active voice, and the whole passive voice doesn’t sound natural to me—nothing passive sounds good to me. It is a style preference, but it is generally frowned upon, unless the writing is fantastic. (In reality, I can probably write a more natural, past tense, passive voice rather than present—past tense is foreign to me.)

How do you change a sentence from passive to active voice? I’d show you, but my mind runs on active voice, so unless you give me an example, I’m not much help.

Now, if you’d like me to help with writing in the active voice, I’d be glad to help (just keep in mind that school starts on August 22^nd, and I’ll be busy with homework and going to bed before 9:30pm. I absolutely love editing. Just ask me and I might help.

-Dylan

Pitch me!

So I've decided to start editing people's pitches. This could be for a query letter (though I may or may not be the best at that) or for a simple pitch you want to use on a website. Whatever the cause, I will gladly edit it.

And I may as well list a few things that turn me off from novels, be it in the pitch or first chapter.

#1 Mary Sue lived a normal life...
This is one of the classic first lines in a pitch that turn me off. If the life wasn't normal before, sure, say that in the pitch. But the reader should automatically assume that the character's life was, before the novel, normal. Which is why I, as a amateur author, avoid this. To me, it is like saying 'The sky was blue before the storm'. A 'no-duh' saying.

#2 Mary Sue's parents recently died...
This seems to another classic line found within a pitch. There always seems to be something wrong with the parents, which also bothers me. And then, within the story, there's the way the author goes about killing off the parents: car accident, usually during the winter. There is only one book that I've read where the parents died in a different type of accident not in the winter: The Wicked series by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie. The main character's parents die in a kayaking accident. This makes the whole 'parents dying' thing unique.

#3 The hook
This bit just talks about the hook of a story. Mostly the first sentence. Many times, the story starts off with either a bit of dialogue or description. To be truthful, description tends to bore me, though dialogue can be interesting. With dialogue, though, it is best to avoid using just the main character's name. That bothers me. And with the descriptions, they tend to be lengthy and not really important.
What I like in a first sentence is a sort of fact that goes with the main character, something that means a lot to the character or the story, or both!

Those are the three things, off the top of my head, that bother me in a pitch and hook. One thing that's nice to see in the first sentence of the pitch is the main character's first name. (Hint hint: some agents prefer to see a main character's name at the very start of the hook in the query letter.)

And now I wrap things up, because I've run out of things to talk about.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan