Worderella On Writing

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Worderellaon

WritingThe Worderella Writes Collected Works

Belinda Kroll


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Worderella on Writing

www.worderella.com

Copyright 2008 by Belinda Kroll

Cover design by Belinda KrollBook design by Belinda Kroll

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced inany manner whatsoever without written permission of the author,except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

For more information, contact Belinda Kroll at www.worderella.com.

First Printing: August 2008Printed in the United States of America


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Table of ContentsWRITING FOR THE LOVE OF IT ................................................................... 5

SELF-PUBLISHING EXPERIENCES .............................................................. 7THE IMPORTANCE OF THEME FORORGANIZATION................................. 10Step One: Write a shitty first draft ........................................................ 10Step Two: Use extra prose as back story............................................... 11Step Three: Read the NYT bestseller list ............................................. 11

REFRESHYOURWRITING ........................................................................ 13What is a writer to do?? .......................................................................... 13Meet some friends for lunch................................................................... 14Is your plot lagging? ................................................................................ 14What about your setting?........................................................................ 14

Still distracted? Unable to focus? ....................................................... 15FIVE TIPS ON CHARACTERBUILDING THROUGHADVERSITY.................. 16

So how do you make your own Scarlett? .............................................. 16Physical adversity.................................................................................... 16Unfulfilled desire ..................................................................................... 17Haunting past........................................................................................... 17Use the time period against your characters advantage .................... 17Go with it .................................................................................................. 18

DEVELOPINGVILLAINOUS CHARACTERS PART1 .................................... 19Research villain archetypes .................................................................... 19

Give the villain a motive ......................................................................... 20Devote as much time defining the villain as you do the hero............. 20

DEVELOPINGVILLAINOUS CHARACTERS PART2.................................... 22The villain in your story is the hero of his own story.......................... 22Go beyond evil for the villains actions ................................................. 22That being said, dont overdo it, either ................................................. 23

DEVELOPINGVILLAINOUS CHARACTERS PART3.................................... 24Give your villain/character a fatal flaw................................................. 24Give the villain a good side ..................................................................... 24Finally, maintain control over your villain ........................................... 24

PUT THAT SHITTYFIRST DRAFTAWAY.................................................... 25Put that shitty first draft away, youre gonna hurt somebody............ 25Dont edit at the computer...................................................................... 26

BE BRUTALLYHONEST ............................................................................ 27First: Be honest with yourself................................................................ 27Second: Be honest with your writing .................................................... 27Third: Be honest with your audience .................................................... 29

SHOWME,DONT TELL ME..................................................................... 30Small details reveal the bigger picture .................................................. 31Showing through Body Language .......................................................... 31Showing through the Environment ....................................................... 31Showing through Architecture ............................................................... 32


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TELL ME,DONT SHOWME..................................................................... 33As important as showing is, telling is equally important.................... 33Set the scene ............................................................................................. 34Summarize boring conversation ............................................................ 34Switch locations, moods, characters ..................................................... 35Give the reader information your characters dont have .................... 35

The Point................................................................................................... 36FOCUS ON NITTYGRITTYDETAILS .......................................................... 37

Timeline .................................................................................................... 37Editing the Beginning ............................................................................. 37Whats wrong with it? ............................................................................. 39

HOW TO BE ACOMPUTER-BASED BETAREADER..................................... 42First: What is a beta reader? .................................................................. 42Now, onto the editing .............................................................................. 42Track Changes: Deletion ......................................................................... 42Track Changes: Rewording, Reorganizing, Adding text ..................... 44

Commenting on the Work...................................................................... 44DISCUSSING FICTION ............................................................................... 46RESEARCHYOURSETTING USING GOOGLE EARTH................................. 50


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Writing for the Love of it

The real secret is to do it because you love writingrather than because you love the idea of being a Writer.

- Iain Banks

I once got into an odd conversation with someone aboutwriting lets call this person Frank the Writer. SoFrank saw my pile of writing magazines, and Icould tell by his expression upon opening oneof the issues that he was surprised Ihighlighted certain sentences which I foundinsightful or helpful to me as a writer.

Watching him read my notes in my old Writers Digest,Poets & Writers, and The Writerissues was like watching achild realize there is no Santa.

Frank asked why I think Im a writer, and I responded,Because I have to write, or face the possibility of insanity. Iadded something about how Im drawn to writing, that I getpersonal satisfaction from it.

I asked him if he didnt feel the same.

No, he said. Ive never heard anyone sound so mournful.I dont. These books tell me I should feel something that tellsme Im a writer, just like how you just told me, but I dont. Inever feel anything when I write.

This puzzled me. How can you write something and not feelanything while writing it? I asked Frank a series of questions

which led me nowhere until, frustrated, I asked, Do you wantto write, or be considered a writer?

I want to be a writer.No wonder he never felt anything when writing. Hismotivation was all wrong. He wanted the fame without the

work. He wasnt writing because he felt any special need to, orbecause he wanted to send a message of sorts out into theworld, or even because he thought he had a story to tell. Hewanted the recognition for being brilliant.

No wonder his writing felt cold, empty.Writing takes guts, patience, and stamina to do what it

takes to be considered a writer. It takes years to bediscovered, and by that point you will have numerous drafts


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hidden beneath your bed, stuffed in a back cupboard, shovedbetween the cracks in the wall.

Even if you go the self-publishing route, you have to be asavvy business-minded writer to make the publishing process

worth it.


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Self-Publishing Experiences

When people ask me about my book, I tell them I self-

published it. This is true and untrue.I paid to have the book printed; I sold it to my family and

friends, and was interviewed by my local television stationabout it. Mainly because I was a senior in high school and it wasmy senior thesis.

But if I had gone the actual self-publication route, I wouldhave found a printer, custom designed my cover and interior,and kept all the profits for myself. What I did in reality was gothrough a print-on-demand company, Aventine Press. Thisroute means I used an interior template, a cover template; inother words, the company limited my choices to what they hadavailable.

For my first time in the publishing realm, I really have tosay that Aventine Press kept my concerns in mind. Because ofproduction delays due to the cover designer needing a rootcanal, they custom designed my cover. My book was placedonline at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many more.

My dad helped me with local marketing by sending thepress release to the news stations. I cant even tell you what itfelt like to hold my book that first time after opening thepackage. But looking back, I should have waited. They requirethat you pay extra for editing services, and lets face it, my first

book could have used some last-minute editing.Other things to keep in mind: yes, if you put forth a good

quality product and perfect your marketing plan, there is a

larger change of a traditional (akacommercial) publisher of picking upyour writing, as long as you followthe rules (querying, sendingpartials when asked, etc).

But out of the thousands ofpeople who went the self-publishing route in 2006 (weretalking POD, Vanity, and SelfPublishing), only 20 were picked by


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commercial/traditional publishers.So, I guess my point is that if you have the money and

patience, research the actual self-publishing route. Its moreimpressive, and you complete control. But most of all, be careful

with the Vanity, Subsidy and POD publishers. Seeing the

market now, I realize I was lucky.The following definitions were found at

www.sfwa.org/beware/vanitypublishers.html.

Acommercial publisher purchases the right topublish a manuscript (often along with other rights,known as subsidiary rights), and pays the author aroyalty on sales (some also pay an advance).

Commercial publishers are highly selective, publishingonly a tiny percentage of manuscripts submitted, andhandle every aspect of editing, publication, distribution,and marketing. There are no costs to the author.

Avanity publisher prints and binds a book at theauthors sole expense.

Costs include the publishers profit and overhead, sovanity publishing is usually a good deal more expensivethan self-publishing. The completed books are theproperty of the author, and the author retains allproceeds from sales.

Vanity publishers do not screen for qualitythey publishanyone who can afford their services.

For an extra fee, some may provide editing, marketing,warehousing, and/or promotional services (often ofdubious quality), or they may provide variously-pricedservice packages that include differing menus of extras.

Asubsidy publisher also takes payment from theauthor to print and bind a book, but contributes a

portion of the cost and/or adjunct services such asediting, distribution, warehousing, and marketing.


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Theoretically, subsidy publishers are selective. Thecompleted books are the property of the publisher, andremain in the publishers possession until sold. Incometo the writer comes in the form of a royalty.

Self-publishing requires the author to bear the entirecost of publication, and also to handle all marketing,distribution, storage, etc. However, rather than payingfor a pre-set package of services, the author puts thoseservices together himself.

Because he can put every aspect of the process out to

bid, he may pay a good deal less than whats charged byvanity publishers; self-publishing can also result in ahigher-quality product. Completed books are owned bythe writer, and the writer keeps all proceeds from sales.


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The Importance of Theme forOrganization

I often read that the biggest things a writer should worryabout are theme and organization. Theme, because that is theheart of your work; organization because thats the skeleton tohelp you write about the theme.

For the longest time I wondered,How does one find atheme in the first place?

Maybe something happened in your life that you want towrite about. Lets face it, wanting to write about that topic isntenough.

You need a focus, something that connects you to the topicand distances you from it at the same time, so that you cancommunicate clearly with your reader.

I began with I want to write a romance, but I dont wantthe heroine to be the typical spunky girl. I want her flawed, and

with heavy concerns.So, I worked from there, writing character descriptions and

first drafts; I wrote an entire 94k first draft just throwing

whatever came to me onto the page. I celebrated, because we allshould celebrate the completion of a draft, especially when ittakes three years to do it (full-time student, remember).

Then, I stuffed it under my bed (or maybe in the back of mycloset, Im always re-organizing so I never completely know

where some things are) and started over.

Step One: Write a shitty first draft

After that, I walked away from the work for a month.Namely, NaNoWriMo month. The crazy speed of that writingmonth invigorated me, and in December I said hello to theoriginal work with a new focus.

I started over with this new focus, with a newunderstanding of the characters, and with a pretty solidunderstanding of their initial back stories.


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Side Note: a back story, if you dontrecognize the term, is a short story and/orhistory about a character, location, orobject that happened before your currenttime line.

Step Two: Use extra prose as back story

Now Im halfway through First Draft B, as I like to call it(props toRedshoeson for the naming idea).

I know where I would like the story to go. But my initialback stories arent full enough. I have to go back and give eachmain, secondary, and even tertiary character back stories about

their history with the other characters.These back stories lead to motivation, motivation to

decision, and decision to action. But my back stories all need atheme. There must be something connecting these characters.But how to write the theme?

The theme is a single sentence that succinctly describeswhat your work is about. Also known as a thesis, blurb or hook:the main idea that keeps you writing, and grabs the readers

interest.Still, its hard to know how to write this magical sentence.So, look at examples. The first sentence on the back cover of apaperback is usually the hook, which the copywriter expandsinto paragraphs about the main characters and why we shouldread about them. I found reading the New York Times (NYT)

bestseller list really helpful, because the top ten have one-sentence summaries.

Step Three: Read the NYT bestseller list

Try to keep yourtheme/hook/blurb/thesis at fifteen

words or less. You want this to befocused but universal, so dont use themain characters name unless it is asequel or part of a series.


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Dont use passive voice! Choose your words carefully; everyword in your theme should be there because there is no betterword for it.

Here are some examples from the July 2007 bestseller list:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: A young man andan elephant save a Depression-era circus.

The Memory Keepers Daughterby Kim Edwards: Adoctors decision to secretly send his newborn daughterto an institution haunts everyone involved.

Peony in Love by Lisa See: Love, death and ghosts in

17th-century China.

The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge:A police officers attempt to get back at her husband,whom she suspects of cheating on her, goes dangerouslyawry.

After you have the main theme, everything will fall into

place, if a bit slowly at first. Your theme is your thesis, so tieeverything back to it and youll have a tight, organized work.


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Refresh Your Writing

I think that writers need to be out there,be in contact with people, struggle with other things

and then come back and bring it to her writing.- Chitra Divakaruni

Whenever I feel like my writing is losing focus, or that Imlosing the edge or spark, I begin to panic. Mainly becausethese symptoms preclude a wicked case of Writers Block.

If youre lucky enough to have never suffered from thishorrible disease, let me be the first to congratulate you andexplain what I mean.

Writers Block is a common disease and it is sometimeshard to recover from. Even if you do recover, there are alwaysthose pesky flare ups.

Its symptoms include staring at a wall or out the window,willing something creative to flow from your mind to thepaper, with nothing doing.

You will be given to bouts of depression as you walk past

your neglected computer/journal/legal pad on your way toyour day job.

Your characters shun you.Your plot turns trite and your dialogue clich.

What is a writer to do??

I like to follow Chitra Divakarunis advice, as in the quote

posted above. If you have Writers Block, you have sapped all ofyour creative juices.

We writers tend to think we should write all the timewithout replenishing our imagination, which is as unhealthy asexercising all the time without stopping to replenish fluids.

How do you replenish your imagination? Get in contactwith people! We attempt the impossible by trying to transcribethe unorganized chaos of life into an organized plot that (dare I

say it?) makes sense, is engaging, and means something.


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Meet some friends for lunch

While youre with your friends, watch how they speak.What are they doing with their hands? Do they maintain eye

contact, or look away while speaking?Or better yet, go to your local park, sit on a bench, andpretend like youre reading. Or have headphones on, withoutthe music playing, and eavesdrop. Youd be amazed howdetailed and intimate conversations get when people think noone is listening.

Is your plot lagging?

Read the newspaper, or tune into yourevening news station.

Truth is stranger than fiction, but thatdoesnt mean you cant use a bit of thatstrange truth to inspire you.

I once read about a woman who dug upher boyfriend because his family didntinvite her to the funeral or visit him at the

hospital while he was sick. Now thats a shortstory in the making. Edgar Allan Poe would haveloved that, Im sure. Or better yet, use your own life asinspiration, with some tact and restructuring, of course, so noone gets insulted.

What about your setting?

Have you even thought about it?Go out and enjoy a bit of nature. Pretend youre new in

town, or youre doing a study on local names/descriptions forthe flora and fauna of the area, and ask people what they thinkthat flower is named, or how they would describe that park.

Dont take their idea as your own, of course, we dont wanta plagiarism case on our hands, but allow their ideas, ifimaginative enough, to spark a few of your own.


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Still distracted? Unable to focus?

Clear your desk so youre not fiddling with the items there.Move your pens out of the way, file your bills, hide your mail.

More importantly, if you do your writing on the computerand you use a program like MS Word, use the full screenoption under the View menu. This will make your writing theonly thing visible on your monitor/screen, thus preventing youfrom wanting to check your e-mail again, or answer that quickIM, or (if youre like me) re-organize your files.

Simple as that sounds, I get so much more writing donewith Word in full screen mode. It prevents my usual multi-tasking, which is refreshing and a little nerve-wracking at the

same time.


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Five Tips on Character Buildingthrough Adversity

We dont remember ScarlettOHara for her beauty. We rememberher because she survived countlessmarriages, a war, childbirth, poverty,sickness, the end of the world as sheknew it, and heartbreak on amonumental scale.

And shes flawed, boy, is

she flawed. And a brilliantcharacter. You either love her,or hate her.

So how do you make yourown Scarlett?

It should be clich at this point: Know your character.

Sometimes you will only know your character after youvethrown a couple of bad situations at them. I suggest sittingsomewhere with a journal, and ask yourself, What if?

What would she do? Who does she turn to? Inward for self-reflection, or outward for comfort?

Dont know what to throw at her?Thats okay, Ive also provided you with a list of bad things

that you can use as a starting point

Physical adversity

Death, dismemberment, sickness. Everyone will go throughat least two of these in their life, so your character better havesome experience with at least one of them.

Sometimes this is the worst thing that can happen to yourcharacter. But what if it isnt? Dont be afraid to pile on the

adversity.


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The worse the situation is, and the more empathetic yourcharacter is, the more you hook your reader.

Unfulfilled desire

No one ever gets things the way they want all the time,every time. What if your character is used to getting her way,and one day doesnt? What if this moment completely alters herunderstanding of herself and the world around her? What doesshe do?Does her desire destroy her, does she rise above it?Does she ruin the lives of those around her in her quest tosatisfy her desire?

Note this desire doesnt have to be romantic in nature. In

fact, if it isnt, and youre writing a romance, what a great twistto your story! Suddenly youve added a new dimension to yourromance.

No one in the real world has time to only worry about theirromantic life, so why should your characters?

Haunting past

Regrets about things you didnt do. Regrets about thingsyou did. Each of us is interesting because we have personalhistories. For instance, many think I savor my food, or that I

just eat slowly.It started because my baby brother choked many times as a

child, and one time I panicked instead of remaining calm. Myfather had to perform the Heimlich even though Id beentrained by the Red Cross. From that moment, I realized how

easily it is to be careless and put your life in danger.See how much you learned about me just by hearing how I

eat? The moral of the story is:Dont discount the little things.They are the collection of moments that create our personalitiesand fill the prologues of our lives.

Use the time period against yourcharacters advantage


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The women of today are strong-willed and ready to shout itfrom the rooftops. The women of yesterday were just as strong-

willed, but required the mastery of subtlety or they might sufferthe rule of thumb.

If your character wants to do something that she just

wouldnt have done in your chosen time period, dont give it upfor the sake of the time period.

Use the frustration to build your character, showing thereader just what sort of a person she is.

Go with it

Sometimes youll surprise yourself with the scenarios you

create. Actually, I hope you surprise yourself. In fact, you bettersurprise yourself.

If your scenarios dont surprise you, you wont surpriseyour reader, and thats bad.

Whats really great is when a character surprises herself.But again, you need to know your character well enough toknow when she can surprise herself. As a hint, use your researchto spark your imagination.

Read old newspapers and be amused and shocked by whathappened back then.Truth really is stranger than fiction.


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Developing Villainous CharactersPart 1

Villains and villainous characters are as important to agood story as the Hero and heroic characters. However, many

writers find writing villainous characters hard because their rolein the novel is to make life for the hero difficult. How do we dothis?

Research villain archetypes

Read Stella Camerons wonderful villain archetypesummary (www.stellacameron.com/contrib/villains.html) orTami Cowdens sixteen villains(www.tamicowden.com/villains.htm), and pick your villains

basis to your hearts delight. Every character, and thereforevillain, most likely fits some sort of generic archetype, at least tohelp you begin molding.

Now, the nice thing about Stella Camerons villain

archetype summary is that it suggests generic back-stories thathelp explain why the villain is the way he is. Use this to youradvantage by using this as a template and adding your owndetails to the mix. Tami Cowdens sixteen villains list has briefdescriptions of the villains based on their generic motive andhow they might pursue their villainy.

Keep in mind that the best characters have the most detail.For example, were fascinated by Hannibal Lector because he is

so precise, and unbelievably detailed about his heinous crimesit is art to him, the ultimate luxury. The luxurious and sensualnature of his descriptions about murder and cannibalism are

what fascinate us, despite ourselves.Such a little detail, but a defining one.So once youve determined your archetype, the next step is

to add details that make the villain believable, rather thanshallow and silly. To do that, you need to


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Give the villain a motive

This is very similar to #1, but now you actually have toprovide the details behind the archetype. Are they a spurnedlover? Were they thrown out of their family/job? Do they justnot take insults very well? Or all three? Personally, I think themore motive you give the character, the better.

Its not enough to say he is the ignored second son, forinstance, if youre writing about a bitter villain out for revenge.Sure, maybe the family didnt treat him the way they treated thefirstborn. That happens. But what if the firstborn stole the

villains girlfriend? Or actively turned his parents against hisyounger brother, depriving the brother of nurturing, thus

turning the younger brother into a villain?Then again, sometimes it is nature rather than nurture

which turns our characters villainous.Maybe your villain, for some reason, feels entitled to

everything, and when she doesnt get his way, its a personalinsult. Or, perhaps she is just the jealous type, and neverlearned how to control it.

Of course, now that we

have a skeleton, of sorts, thatgives us an initial definitionof your villain, here comes

what I think might be themost important step when

working on your villain. Youneed to make sure to

Devote as much timedefining the villain as you do the hero

The hero and villain are supposed to be antagonists of oneanother, right? (You should be shaking your head yes.) Asynonym of antagonize is oppose, meaning they must beopposite and balance one another. But if one character is

weaker, then the duo is weak altogether. If you spend three

months developing the hero, I hope youre doing the same forthe villain, for the following reasons:


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1. One strong character cannot carry an entire plot.2. If you over-develop your hero and under-develop your

villain, your characters will fall flat because of the lack ofbalance.

3. One weak main character can ruin your plot.4. When your readers ask why your character did/did not

do something, its better to pull out a journal full ofdetails about the character, rather than to sit there

blinking.

5.

Its fun to develop the villain!

Next, we will go into more detail about why this is, even forthose of us who dont like to hurt our characters (thereforemaking our villain weak and laughable).


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For part two, were going deeper into the mind and actionsof the villain. Were going to try to see the entire plot from the

villains perspective, push ourselves to the limits, yet attempt tomoderate how far we push our villains actions.

So lets get going! First and foremost, here is somethingthat really helped me get into the mind of my villain: I suddenlyrealized that

The villain in your story is the hero of hisown story

We always hear how we should write each scene from asingle point-of-view. That is, no head-hopping to get multipleperspectives within a single scene.

This fact helped me realize that if I were to switch aroundeach chapter so that I told the story from the villainsperspective, I would have a greater, more realizedunderstanding behind the villains actions.

By doing this, I grew to love my villain almost as greatly as Ilove my hero (that is, heroine), and sympathize with him asthings didnt go his way.

As I wrote one of the villains climaxes, which happens to bedifferent from the heroines, I wrote it with tears in my eyes

because of the unfairness of it all. Yet, when I wrote the same

scene from the heroines perspective, I felt sad, but justified.Which leads me to my next point

Go beyond evil for the villains actions

It seems to me that, as writers, we tend to write what wewant to read. At least, that seems to be what I do. And for some

reason, readers like to read about particularly bad people andsee what happens to them.


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I used to be the sort of writer who didnt make my villain tomean, or his actions too hurtful. I thought there was enough evilin the world, why should I write about it? And then it occurredto me that it is how we face evil that defines the good in us. Thatled me to writing villains who really do hurt others. But I still

held back. I could write the scenes no problem, even chucklingalong with the villain as his plans unfurled.

Which meant I wasnt making him villainous enough.Rather than chuckling, I should have been shaking my

head in dismay, because that is the sort of villain I like to readabout. I want to see a villain that is cruel, and suffers theconsequences for it but it needs to be bad enough to warrantsaid consequences.

So if youre cringing while writing a scene, or reacting insome other way, youre probably doing something right.

That being said, dont overdo it, either

Only make your villain as evil as he needs to be for yourplot, and no one elses. A sweet romance likeBright Arrowsdoesnt deserve a Hannibal Lector, the same way Barnaby

Barnacle fromBabes in Toylandwouldnt doSilence of theLambs any justice.Determine the theme and purpose of your work to define

the level of evil and goodness which should occur.Certain actions and motives wont work for young adult,

others wont work for inspirational fiction, etc. Read otherbooks in your genre to get a feeling for what is appropriate inyour own work.


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Give your villain/character a fatal flaw

There are multiple movies that showcase this trick (PulpFiction, Scarface, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Romancing theStone), and often it is the fatal flaw that brings the villain totheir downfall, rather than the hero being the ultra-smart, ultra-handsome hero that we know he is. It adds complexity if the

villain is the reason why he doesnt win.Search phobia on your favorite search engine and youll

find an array of great weaknesses to plague your villains, andheroes as well.

Give the villain a good side

Surprise your reader by showing the softer side to yourvillain so that theyre not so sure hes such a bad guy after all.If he can show he has a good side, then he gains the readerssympathy and suddenly makes things more complicated. Nowthats putting some twists into the mix.

Finally, maintain control over your villain

Dont just let him disappear at the end of the book! Give

your reader a sense of closure, even if youre writing a series.Your villain must suffer some sort ofpunishment/consequence for their actions, fitting to theircrimes. Or, better yet, let them get away with a couple ofthings so the reader gets blindsided.


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Put that Shitty First Draft Away

I read somewhere that there are three drafts a writer must

go through before a work is ready for consumption:

1. You write the first draft for yourself.2. You write the second draft for your audience.3. You write the third and last draft for publication.So take heart, dear one, though youve only finished draftnumero uno. It may seem like a gargantuan task now, but youll

be at the third draft in no time at all.

Put that shitty first draft away, youregonna hurt somebody

No, I dont care if you suddenly

figured out what you need to doin order to fix that onechapter/scene/sentence.

Print out the shitty first draft(SFD) in a font thats different from the one you typed it in (Illexplain tomorrow), put it in a special binder, kiss it, hug it, do

whatever you need to do in order to say goodbye.Then hide it from view for a week at the very least. A

month is better.This time away from the SFD is imperative because itbrings objectivity. The less you remember about writing it, themore you will read it like someone who has no idea what toexpect from you and wont have any reason to say Oh, itll get

better by chapter four.If you must write, start the next book. I bet you have a

sequel all planned out, so this is the perfect time to start.


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Dont edit at the computer

Why? Because we read superficially at the computer. Itcomes with surfing the internet. Superficial editing, I like to say,

is the same thing as revising. Youre moving main pointsaround, and thats not what we want.Why?Because editing is not revising.To revise is to alter what is there, to shuffle things around

and perhaps make a bigger mess than you already have. To editis to have the guts to slash or add a sentence/page/subplot if it

will enhance the whole.So find your printed copy and your favorite pen (I know

you have one, we all do), crawl into your favorite chair, and get

ready for the long haul. Because this is going to get messy.

Books to Buy:Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by DaveKing and Renni Browne


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Be Brutally Honest

I always like to think of editing as having three majorfactors: being honest with yourself, with your writing, and with

your audience.

First: Be honest with yourself

There are times when all you want to do it edit, and othertimes when you dread the idea. Whatever the case, ask yourselfthese questions before you begin.

Are you tired?Take a nap before you edit so you arealert enough to notice mistakes.

Have you had a bad day? Just come out of anargument?I suggest not editing then, because youreupset. Everything is going to look bad to you, and thatsnot constructive.

Have you had the most wonderful day of your life?Dont look at your WIP with rose-colored glasses.Realize that your good mood might make your writingseem better than it is.

In other words, realize that your mood will change howgood you think your writing is. Train yourself to be objective nomatter your mood.

And if you become frustrated, or if your eyes start to burnfrom reading too much, stop. Take a break and come back to ittomorrow. Theres nothing worse than getting burnt out,

because then you get lazy with your editing.

Second: Be honest with your writing

It helps to know what sort of writer you are, i.e. character-driven, plot-driven, etc, and then look for your weaknesses. I


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had you print your work in a different font so when you read it,the words themselves will look unfamiliar, thus helping yourecognize flaws.

Are your paragraphs more than five lines long?Thatsa lot of exposition. Well discuss this in part Show Me,Dont Tell Me.

Are you relying on dialogue to explain details?Bettersummarize it in a paragraph and move on. Well discussthis on Tell Me, Dont Show Me.

Does everyone sound the same?Youll only know this byreading aloud. When youre at a restaurant, tryeavesdropping on conversations just to get a feel for howpeople really sound.

Are you lacking setting?Keep the five senses in mind(dont info-dump), and you wont go wrong.

If you have to read a sentence twice, it doesnt matter ifits clever. Look at it this way you had to read it twiceto know what you are talking about, which meanseveryone else will have no idea. Rewrite it or get rid of it.

If you find a page that has beautiful writing but hasnothing to do with that chapter, move it somewhere else.If it doesnt belong in the book, it doesnt belong in the

book. Save it later for another project.

This is what I mean by being honest is hard. You have to bestrong enough to let go of that perfect sentence because itturns out it isnt so perfect after all.

But whatever you do, dont erase any of your edits, anddont cross lines through your printed text so you cant see what

you wrote. You need to see where you came from to know whereyoure going.


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Third: Be honest with your audience

Sometimes when we get into the thick of writing, we forgetwe are writing for an audience. This is the time to look at your

work from their point of view by keeping these things in mindwhile editing:

Do you like your protagonist? Have you fully realizedyour antagonist?Make your reader care about yourcharacters, even the bad guy, and youre on your way toa solid manuscript.

Do you know where everyone is in the room?Whatroom are we in, anyway? Did you even tell the reader?Shame on you.

Was someone out in the rain in the last chapter, andmiraculously dont have a cold or any sniffles in thischapter, only an hour or so later?Continuity is a bigthing for readers, oddly enough. It helps to keep atimeline so you dont run into this problem.

Does anyone even talk like that?This is why you shouldread your dialogue aloud. If youre stumbling whilereading, change it. Reading aloud will also help withpurple prose; if it sounds cheesy, it probably is.

Your reader wants to love you and your book, so please,help them. Your reader will notice if something seems

contrived.Strive for a simple, honest story at its heart, throw sometwists into the mix, and everyone will be happy.

Frustrated? Stay with me. Next well discuss how that vaguemantra, show, dont tell.

Books to Buy:Revision and Self-Editing by James ScottBell andManuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No

Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore by Elizabeth Lyon


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Show Me, Dont Tell Me

Dont talk of stars, burning above!If youre in love, show me!

Tell me no dreams filled with desire,if youre on fire, show me!Here we are together in the middle of the night.

Dont talk of spring, just hold me tight!Show Me fromMy Fair Lady

Think of your book as a court case. Would you, as the jury,believe the prosecutor if he screamed, The defendant isguilty!!! And I rest my case.

No. You want proof so you believe beyond reasonable doubtthat the defendant is guilty.

Apply the same idea to your writing. What proof do youhave to convince your reader that your character is bored, thather hero is unhappy, that his antagonist is delighted? Lets lookat an example.

Belinda was bored. She had a lot to do and her friends,

while hilarious, had no idea what sort of deadlines shefaced. Three C++ programs and an analysis of MobyDick to write? She had to figure out how to make herexcuses and get out of there, quick.

Whats the problem? Im telling you shes bored and has alot to do, but I dont tell you how shes reacting to these facts.Lets try again.

Belinda twisted her ring around her finger. A paper andthree programming assignments. She crossed her legs.Maybe she could write the Moby Dick analysis first? Sheuncrossed her legs. No, Moby Dick would take muchlonger, better do the programs first. Belinda glancedonce at her cell phone, pressing the side button toilluminate the little screen and see the time.

Class in twenty minutes.


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She stood to stretch, and no one said anything, knowingher history with back pain. She pushed her chair back toits desk and straightened the other empty chairs aroundher, inching for the door.

What is different? I rely on shorter sentences to portray ananxious mood. There are descriptive verbs: twisting, crossing,uncrossing, glancing, stretching, pushing, inching.

Can you see someone doing this? Too polite to say theywant to leave, but showing you they want to, anyway?

Small details reveal the bigger picture

Movies and songs do this because they dont have theluxury of 80,000 words to explain everything.

Love songs describe missed phone calls, the smell of an oldshirt, the empty half of a bed. These small details show us thesinger is alone and heartbroken, which is more powerful thanthe singer repeating, Oh, Im heartbroken, cant you see Imheartbroken?

Treat each scene in your book as if it were a scene in a

movie. What details would the camera show the audience?

Showing through Body Language

Watch your co-workers, family, friends and enemies, thestrangers on the street.

Can you tell what is going on without hearing theconversation? Are they standing upright? Are their shoulders

hunched? Are they looking away as they speak? Are theysweating?

Showing through the Environment

Sure, maybe it was a dark and stormy night, but weve allheard that before.

What about your five senses help you realize that it is

storming, and that you wouldnt want to be caught in the middle


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of it? Are the gnats gathering into furious swarms? Is the heatpressing against your skin, making you feel like you cant

breathe? Are the trees swaying? Can you smell the heavydampness?

Showing through Architecture

What about the buildings that your characters live in? Arethey worn down, a sad testament to what once was? By the way,dont ever say the house was worn down, a sad testament to

what once was. Thats telling.Show me the house is worn down by describing spider webs

in the windows, so thick they prevent the full sunlight from

shining into the room. Show me how the roof is badly patchedwith pieces of rotting bark collected from the nearby forest.

Details, details, details.

Books to Buy:Eight Ways to Bring Fiction to Life byNoah Lukeman andHow to Write a Damn Good NovelbyJames N. Frey


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Tell Me, Dont Show Me

I hope I never see this conversation in your work, ever.

Hi Belinda.

Hey Marcie. Whats up?

Nothing much. Marcie sighs into the phone. Makingdinner. Hubbys coming home soon and he gets grumpyif I dont have it ready.

Oh man, Belinda murmurs. Whatre you making?Spaghetti? Gotta love spaghetti.

Snore, snore, snore, right?How many of you have heard a conversation like this while

walking around a store? A conversation about nothing thatannoys everyone else who has to hear it?

Dont force it on your readers or theyll throw your book

against the wall.

As important as showing is, telling isequally important

Lets define some terms, first.

Exposition is when the author stops to describe

something to us, say, a house. We need to know what this houselooks like because the main character is about to sneak inside,

but it doesnt forward the plot at all.

Narration is when the description forwards the plot along,often by describing emotions or thoughts, or when transitioningfrom one scene/location to another.

As you can see, there isnt a big difference here, so Im

going to collapse both terms into simple narrative.


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Now, narrative is imperative for prose fiction: its whatdefines prose from poetry (among other things, of course). Buthow do we know when to show and when to tell?

Set the scene

This is the most traditional way to use narration, because itworks. A simple paragraph describing the scene does more thana page of dialogue talking about the trees, the sky, the buildings,and the characters moods.

Make sure to do this quickly. You dont want to disruptyour reader too long, which is what youre doing whenever yourely on narration.

Lets see an example:

It was night, not that Belinda could tell the differencewith the blindfold on. Her hands pulsed with a dullache thanks to the rough rope knotted around her

wrists. She had lost feeling in her legs hours ago. Hercheeks were sticky with tears, and the old sock in hermouth choked her.

There it was again. Heavy footfalls shuffling up thewooden staircase toward her.

This narration tells us everything we need to know. Whattime of day it is, that Belinda is panicked, tied up, has no idea

where she is, and dreads the sound of heavy footsteps comingtoward her.

Summarize boring conversation

We dont need to knowevery detail, just tell us theinformation we need to know to keep up. This includes genericintroductions between characters, or when a couple of days go

by in your plot timeline that dont have any real action or eventsto maintain interest.

Never do extended flashback scenes if you can help it.Going back to my opening example:


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A week went by before Belinda called Marcie.

The phone rang four times before Marcie picked up, andthere was a definite hesitation in her voice. Belindaground her teeth as they wasted time talking about how

Marcie was making dinner for her husband. Forget yourhusband, Belinda wanted to scream, and get out while

you still can.

I could have written this narration two ways: Marcie upsetabout her husbands demands, or the way I wrote it withBelinda not understanding how her friend can stand herhusbands demands.

Or a third way, with the husband coming home andwanting to know why Marcies gabbing on the phone instead ofmaking dinner.

Switch locations, moods, characters

This is the smoothest way of letting your reader know thatsomething is shifting.

For example, you can end a chapter with your charactersaying, I bet Franks sneaking his wayinto the girls locker room again.

And then start the next chapterwith a teacher dragging Frank by hisear out of the girls locker room. Yougave a hint about where Frank will bethe next time we read about him, and not

only is he there, hes making us laugh thathe got caught.Silly Frank.

Give the reader informationyour characters dont have

This is used all the time in romance, as well as political

thrillers, mysteries, suspense


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We as readers know that when the bad guy promises not todo it again that hes lying, but the hero believes him for somereason. We know that when the romantic hero says he doesntcare about the heroine that he does, its just that he probablydoesnt realize it yet.

Foreshadowing is a great example of this as well.

The PointThe only time you shouldnt use narration is when it is

better to use action and dialogue. The only time you shouldntuse action and dialogue is when it is better to use narration.Sounds like a vicious cycle, doesnt it? Here are things to keep inmind when deciding to show or tell:

1. Always and only tell your reader what they need to knowfor the plot and characters to make sense.

2. Dont distract the reader with your writing mechanics.Too much narration, description, or dialogue will throw

your reader off, so try to maintain a healthy balance.

3. Dont summarize important conversations, only the onesthat dont cover anything new.4. Always reveal something new. Never rehash what you

told your reader earlier, theyve seen it already.

5. Dont let the narrative run away from you. If it goeslonger than a paragraph or two, take a step back. Does

your reader really need all that information? Or can yousee them thinking, Come on, already!

Books to Buy: Strunk & WhitesElements of Style


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Focus on Nitty Gritty Details

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.

Finding Nemo

I hope youre following Dorys advice and stayingpersistent just keep swimming (writing)!

Im not sure if youve noticed yet, but editing really is myfavorite part of the creative writing process. I know I might bealone in this, and thats ok.

My goal is to help you see that editing is not as hard as itseems it just takes patience, persistence, and motivation. NowI want to leave you with some ideas to help you edit on a verydetailed level.

Timeline

Set up a timeline for editing your book. Do you want tofinish editing a chapter a day? Whatever it is, make a pact with

yourself to go through your draft once only.Be determined to catch every mistake the first timethrough. This will keep you focused and efficient.

Give yourself a break if life gets in the way of your editingtimeline, too. There is nothing worse than feeling guilty aboutnot working, and worse yet, the more upset you are with

yourself about not working, the more your guilt will build. Tothe point that you wont wantto edit. Always, always, alwaysavoid feeling like you dont want to touch your work.

Editing the Beginning

This is by far the hardest and most frustrating part of thebook to edit, it seems. Therefore, Im going to apply this weeksediting tips to the introduction of my first book. That way youcan see an example of how Im thinking, and hopefully findsimilarities in your own work to know how to edit.


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I started my first book, Catching the Rose, with narrativedescription because I read classics when younger and thats

what I was used to. It never occurred to me that readerpreferences would change in 100+ years.

Silly me.

Todays readers expect to begin with action, whether by/tothe main character or by/to a character who will affect the maincharacter later. So lets see an example of what my firstparagraphs were, and what they would be if I were writing the

book now.

As the morning sun ascended slumbering Richmond, asmall bird crooned. Its song echoed in the winding,

empty streets and alleys to land in the ears of a dog whosleepily snarled. Waiting for employment, the hosewhickered at the dog who yipped in reply. The horseshook his head from a persisting fly, which sailed fromthe threat and chanced upon an appealing rose.

It was on this solitary morning that a rose petal fell. It isnot known whether the petal happened to be dropped bya hand, or whether it fell by the properties of gravity. Butit is safe to say it began this story.

As the town began the morning regimen, windowsawoke to the new day. The sun glided across a brown

brick house, highlighting wear and tear. Mrs.Beaumonts, the gold-plated plaque beside the largedoor read. The house was tall and wide, a mixture oftown house and country mansion. The bay window,

situated in what one might assume belonged to theparlor, energetically flung open its curtains.

Pure description, right? Its not bad, but its not action-filled. Id love to know how many of you are wondering, Whendo we meet actual people? Wheres the main character?

Its ok. You can tell me. I wrote this as a teenager and Ivelearned to accept criticism after five years and an English

minor, I hope.


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Whats wrong with it?There are three paragraphs and not one of them told you to

keep reading. How do we make sure the reader wants and needsto keep reading? We throw something at them. Somethingunexpected, which makes them laugh, or gasp, or feel curious.

Lets jump five pages into the book. This is a moreappropriate beginning, but it still isnt good enough.

Sighing, a young woman in a blue bonnet was yet againdistracted from her book. The train was full of rowdy,chattering young men and women, all orbiting aroundthe same tired subject: war. It was all anyone spoke of:

war between the states, war between households, war

between brothers. This war had chased her south.Squinting against the dimmed glare of the morning sun,the blue bonnet wished the train would move morequicklyshe tired of this talk.

She slid the novel into her traveling valise. The air washot and sticky, for windows did not open thanks to thesoot spewed from the smokestack. Wondering what she

could do to occupy her mind, the blue bonnet fingeredthe pressed petal her cousin had dropped into her handthe day of her departure. As the noise rose and abruptlydropped, the blue bonnet, hoping the returning trip

would not be as worrisome, rolled her eyes and staredout the soot-stained window.

Still a very heavy two paragraphs, bogged down with

narration and exposition. Lets free Miss Blue Bonnet, shall we?First of all, beginning a sentence with a verb ending in -ing (a.k.a. a gerund verb) is one of the weakest ways to begin asentence. Why? Because we have the action without the nounassociated with it yet. Who is sighing?

But there is something good about starting with Miss BlueBonnet sighing we want to know why she sighs. And while Imtalking about it, why havent I given Miss Blue Bonnet a realname yet? Give your characters a name, unless theyre part of amurder mystery where they die in the first couple of pages.


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Scratch that. You might as well give the character a name soyour reader doesnt get confused. Or something distinctiveabout the character and refer to them according to thatdistinctive trait.

I also rely on adverbs to describe my verbs, rather than

choosing a stronger, self-descriptive verb.Bad, Belinda, bad.Each paragraph is four and five sentences long. Too much

for an introduction, which should be punchy, if not with action,at least with writing style.

Lets move on. The most important sentence in this entireintroduction is buried in the first paragraph. Can you find it?

This war had chased her south.

Why is this sentence the most important? Because it givesus a reason to keep reading.Why did the war chase her south? Wouldnt it, if anything,

have chased her north? Is she a southerner running south?What is she running from? Most importantly, what is sherunning to?

The second paragraph, except for the second sentence, is alltelling. We dont need to tell the reader Miss Blue Bonnet

wishes the train would move more quickly; this is the perfect

opportunity to show her reactions to the shouting voices aroundher. So how would I change it? Lets see what my re-write does.

The young woman in the blue poke bonnet rolled herneck, popping free of an hours-long kink. She sat aloneat the back of the packed, rocking train carriage.She gripped the edge of her seat with her gloved hand tostay upright. The other hand held a slim novel, whose

pages she turned with a practiced flick of her thumb.

You going south, too, brother? One of the men at thefront of the carriage shouted. His accent was thick andslow and lyrical, proud of its southern roots.

The young woman, named Amy Williams, flinched.

Course! Another man said. Gotta join up, show thoseYanks whats what!


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The carriage roared with the shouts of forty men andwomen competing with the trains piercing whistle.

Amy pressed her lips together into a grim line, snappingher book shut. War. What a tired subject. It was all

anyone spoke of: war between the states, war betweenhouseholds, war between brothers.

This war had chased her south.

This re-write has dialogue which tells us our character sitsamidst a crowd of rowdy people. The way she sits shows us sheis irritated, or on edge. We know that she doesnt agree with her

fellow train passengers.We get a lot of information in a short amount of time, and

the majority of the information is shown to us.


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How to be a Computer-basedBeta Reader

It occurred to me that many of us are computer-based betareaders, which can be a monumental task. So todays tidbit willprovide useful tricks in Microsoft Word 2003 to help you

become a more efficient and productive beta reader.

First: What is a beta reader?

Wikipedia states that a beta reader is someone whocritiques a completed written work with a the aim of improvinggrammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a storyprior to its release to the general public.

Some beta readers do more than others.Some refuse to edit your grammar, because thats basic

level and you should be past that point.Others are so nitpicky youll want to tear your hair out.So make sure to discuss your writing and editing styles

with whomever you pair up with (and this can be a one-to-one,one-to-many, or many-to-many relationship).

In comparison, the alpha reader is the writer or author ofthe written work.

Now, onto the editing

Microsoft Word 2003 is the software Ill talk about todaybecause its the one I have the most expertise in. For the record,Word 2007 has the same features, but the buttons to use themare in different locations (the ribbon).

Track Changes: Deletion

Sometimes when youre reading through the work, you

have to delete a sentence or paragraph. But how do you do thisso the alpha reader knows the change you made? Theres this


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awesome module called Track Changes that will note everychange youve made to the document by adding a side note that

you can hide or show at will.See an example screenshot below.To use Track Changes, do the following:

1. ClickView Toolbars Reviewing in the menu bar.This will give you a new toolbar that gives you the optionto make comments, track changes, and highlight.

2. Click the little icon that looks like a piece of lined paperwith a tiny sun in the top left corner and a pencil in thebottom right on top of it. If you hover your mouse a little

tooltip should appear saying Track changes. This iswhat you want.

3. Now, any change you make to the document will berecorded.

4. If you dont want to see the tracked changes, you canclick the Show button which allows you to select what is

visible and what is hidden.

5. If you hit Track Changes again, it will stop recording allyour actions after you hit the icon. It does not get rid ofthe changes you made previous to hitting the icon,however, so dont freak out.


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Track Changes: Rewording, Reorganizing,Adding text

Follow the same steps as the Track Changes: Deletionsection. Tracking the changes will also note any additions you

make, and I think will also note if you move something. Maybe.If it doesnt, then you always have the option to comment.

Commenting on the Work

This is my new favorite toy in Word 2003/2007. Using thesame Reviewing toolbar, you can comment whatever text youve

selected with your mouse. It adds a rounded rectangular bubbleto the right of the page with a line to the text that you selectedfor the comment.

See an example screenshot on the next page.To comment, do the following:

1. ClickView Toolbars Reviewing in the menu bar.This shows a toolbar that gives you the option to makecomments, track changes, and highlight.


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2. Click the icon that looks like a yellow/tan-colored Post-itnote with a tiny sun in the top left corner.

If you hover your mouse over the icon, a little tooltipshould appear saying Insert Comment. This is what

you want.

3. Now, a bubble should appear to the right of your text,with a blinking cursor.

4. Type your thought.5. When youre done, click outside of the bubble.

Now, if you hover over the text you selected to comment,you should see the bubble highlight. You might also seethe text from your comment hovering above the text.

The really neat thing about this is that if someone elseopens the same document with your comments on theircomputer, and they start to add comments, Word will tell there

is a difference. To account for this difference, the colors of thecomment bubbles will change depending on thecomputer/owner of the Word program.

You can also navigate through the document based onprevious/next comment. Pretty cool, huh?


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Discussing Fiction

I found this list of fiction terms online, and edited it a

little, adding some of my own examples and removing someterms that I thought were redundant:

Allegory: A complete narrative that may also be appliedto a parallel set of external situations that may bepolitical, moral, religious, or philosophical; a completeand self-contained narrative signifying another set ofconditions.

Atmosphere: The emotional aura that a work evokes;the permeating emotional texture within a work.

Character: The verbal representation of a humanbeing, with all the good and bad traits of being human.Character is revealed through authorial comments,interactions with other characters, dramatic statementsand thoughts, and statements by other characters.

Conflict: The essence of plot; the opposition betweentwo forces.Man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs.himself

Contextual or authorial symbol: A symbol specificto a particular work that gathers its meaning from thecontext of the work.

Cosmic irony: Situational irony connected to apessimistic or fatalistic view of life.

Cultural or universal symbol: A symbol recognizedand shared as a result of common social and culturalheritage.

Dramatic irony: Situational irony in which a characterperceives his or her plight in a limited way while the


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audience and one or more other characters understandit entirely.

Dramatic/objective POV: Third person point of viewin which no authorial commentary reveals characters

thoughts.

Epiphany: Literally, a manifestation; in literature,epiphany has become the standard term for thedescription . . . of the sudden flare into revelation of anordinary object or scene.

Fable: A story that features animals with human traitsand morals or explanations.

First person POV: Narration from the perspective ofI or We. The importance of this point of view is thatthe narrator can be reliable or unreliable.

Flat character: A character that is static and does notgrow. One purpose of flat characters is to highlight thedevelopment of round characters.

Initiation: Type of story or theme in which a charactermoves from innocence to experience.

Irony: The discrepancy between what is perceived andwhat is revealed; language and situations that seem toreverse normal expectations.

Metaphor: Comparison of two unlike things;describing some unlike thing in terms of somethingunderstandable to the reader.

Myth: A narrative story associated with the religion,philosophy, or collective psychology of various societiesand cultures.Example: Superman in America today isvery much what Hercules was to the Ancient Greeks.


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Omniscient point of view: Point of view in which anauthorial voice reveals all the characters thoughts; mayinclude commentary by the author.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration for effect. Personification: Attributing human attributes or

actions to nonhuman things or abstractions. Plot: The development and resolution of a conflict;

includes the element of causation.

Point of view (POV): The voice of the story; the storyfrom the perspective of the person doing the speaking.

Examples: first person, second person, third person

omniscient, third person limited omniscient, thirdperson dramatic or objective.

Protagonist: The main character of a story; thecharacter around whom the conflict is centered.

Round characters: Characters that recognize, changewith, and adjust to circumstances.

Second person POV: Story told from the perspectiveof you. Uncommon.

Setting: A works natural, manufactured, political,cultural, and temporal environment, includingeverything that the characters know and own.

Simile: Comparison of two unlike things using like oras.

Situational irony: A type of irony emphasizing thathuman beings are enmeshed in forces beyond theircomprehension and control.

Stereotype: Flat characters that exhibit no attributesexcept those of their class.


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Stock character: Flat characters who represent a classor group.

Story or narration: The reporting of actions inchronological sequence.

Structure: The way in which a plot is assembled:chronologically, through dreams, speeches, fragments,etc.

Style: The manipulation of language to create certaineffects.

Symbolism: Objects, incidents, speeches, andcharacters that have meanings beyond themselves.

Theme: The major or central idea of a work. Third person limited omniscient POV: one third-

person characters thoughts are revealed but the othercharacters thoughts are not.

Tone: The ways in which the author conveys attitudesabout the story material and toward the reader.

Litotes: Deliberate underplaying or undervaluing of athing to create emphasis or irony

Definitions and examples are modified from Dr. Donna Campbell atWashington State University, and Literature: An Introduction toReading and Writing, 7th ed., ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E.

Jacobs (Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 2004).


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Research Your Setting usingGoogle Earth

If anything deserves more attention in my research, itsthe setting. Not for lack of trying, though; its something I tendto obsess about, but the resources about my little village aresparse at best.

This concerns me because character histories oftendepend on the characters environment, so its risky not toknow the nooks and crannies hidden in your location.

Enter Google Earth.I finally caved in and installed the free application on my

computer. This, despite my misgivings that I would wastehours studying the landscape rather than studying how thestructure of a material changes depending on the number of

vacancies at the atomic level.Heaven help me, I was at the computer for two hours

squealing about all the little physical details that, withouttechnology, I would have had to journey to the UK to see.

Thanks to the internet, I did manage to find 1885 maps of

the area. But seeing actual color photos of the landscapearound the manor house, and the relative locations oflocal ruins Mary walks to when she needs to let off somesteam and then to see photos taken by other Google Earthusers living in the area! Oh, when I found Waylands Smithy, Iknew, I just knew, that Mary spent hoursthere as a child, and returned there when

bereft as an adult.And if this isnt enough, I also

installed Google Sketch Up, a 3Dmodeling application. People use it tomake 3D renderings of buildings onGoogle Earth you know whatIll be doing in my free timepretty soon.

Yes, thats right, makingmock-ups of my characters not-

so-humble abodes.For those of you struggling with details, try Google Earth.


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Its free and works on all major platforms, it seems.If youre writing historical fiction, you might have to

imagine what the city looked like during your era, but manyplaces (especially in Europe) still have the old streets and someof the old buildings to give you a better understanding of what is

within walking distance, etc. If youre writing a contemporarypiece, you can watch traffic patterns, the weather, and more.

A great resource for anyone curious about the world, GoogleEarth is also an excellent research tool for writers of all genres.


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Writing, make sure to keep upwith Belindas blog,Worderella Writes(http://blog.worderella.com).

To contact the author, visitwww.worderella.com.

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