Tag: writing

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It’s a Trap!

Hello, all!

So, you’re probably going to think I’m being wishy-washy, but I swear, I’m not. I’m going to have to edit The Gem of Meruna.

Now, hear me out.

Last week, I said I would only edit it if I found a lot of grammar errors or problems, and I cannot, in good conscience, rerelease it in its current state.

Not that it’s bad, but I’ve learned so much about the craft of writing over the past five years, and the state this book is in just…falls way short of the mark.

For those of you who’ve read it, don’t worry. The story isn’t changing. It’s just sentence structure and stuff like that. It needs tightened up. Honestly, it could probably stand to lose about 5,000 words, over all, just by fixing the lengthy sentences and losing the few instances of passive voice.

But this is a good thing.

It means that I’m learning more and more about writing as time goes by.

Which, in my opinion, is how you tell a good writer from a bad one. Good writers keep trying to improve.

Bad ones…think they don’t need to. They think their work is the best in existence, a gift to the world, and to edit or tweak it, or change their process at all is tantamount to blasphemy.

But that’s bullshit.

Bad writers can write good stories, and good writers can write bad stories. That’s not what I’m getting at, here.

The day you stop learning and growing as a writer (or as a person) is the day that you become a bad writer. Even if your stuff is gold, there is always room for improvement or experimentation.

And there is always room for editing.

Of course, at some point, you have to pull the trigger, and release your work upon the world, but it needs polished, first. I’ve read several books lately that could have stood to undergo one or two, or five, more rounds of edits. (I won’t name them, because I’m not here to trash talk other writers. My point is…edit your fucking books. Lol.)

Anyway, this will be the last rerelease I do. Any future books will be edited, published, and left the fuck alone.

The first time around for Meruna was a train wreck, though. Lol. (And I need it rereleased under my married name so it’ll be on my Amazon Author page with the rest of my books.)

You see, I went through a vanity press, because I didn’t know better. At that point, I didn’t know what that meant. I assumed it was a normal publisher, and that everything they did was, well, normal.

But…no.

Not at all.

They did no professional edit.

I arranged the cover art myself. (A.K.A. My husband, an incredibly talented artist, did it.) A traditional publisher (what I thought I was doing) would have done editing and had a cover done by their own artists.

They formatted and printed the book, and charged me for their services. Since I didn’t know that isn’t how the publishing industry is supposed to work, I gladly signed and paid.

Then, I regretted it when…nothing happened.

Because, unless I paid them more money, they weren’t about to do any marketing.

All this was in the contract, of course, making it completely legal.

But I didn’t know, at the time, that that wasn’t how it would have happened with a traditional publisher.

The big difference is that traditional publishers and self publishers make their money off sales.

Vanity presses make their money off the authors.

Which is why I still get calls from them, five and a half years later, trying to talk me into paying them for more (subpar) marketing, primarily by talking over me and not letting me get a word in edgewise.

The worst part is that…once I realized my mistake, I was super embarrassed. I didn’t know any better. I was just a noob, trying to get a book published. But I was mortified. I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was terrified that someone would ask how I got published. But I should’ve talked about it.

I’m certainly not the only person who’s done this. I know of others who’ve had much MUCH worse experiences with vanity presses than I had. So, I’m definitely not alone in this. I could have been commiserating with them so much sooner, helping myself to feel less awful about it, and actually dealing with the problem.

Now, this isn’t where I intended to go with this blog, but I think people need to know that vanity presses are not the same as self or traditional publishers. People need to know how/why they’re different. (I’ll talk about what I was going to talk about next week.)

So, learn from my mistake.

If a publisher requires money upfront, run.

They should pay you, not the other way around.

Of course, if you self publish, the cost of editing, cover design, formatting, and a copyright is on you. Some of those things, you can do yourself, but the cost is on you regardless. But the printing and distribution costs come out of the purchase price of the book. Not your pocket.

Keep that in mind.

For now…

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

P.S. – Fun fact, for those of you who came here via my IG or FB…The picture I chose for this is especially fitting for me this week. I got bit by either a tick carrying lyme disease or a brown recluse spider…eight goddamn times. Two of the bites did that whole…bullseye thing. Red ring with bruising around the outside (one the size of a fruit can, and the other the size of a half dollar coin). Feels great…

Antibiotics are helping, though. So, yeah.

But yeah, the two things have the same symptoms, apparently, and look pretty similar. The main difference is that tick bites usually have a tick in them, and brown recluse bites usually happen in pairs (at most) and turn necrotic. None of those things happened. I found no tick. There was no necrosis.

So…who fucking knows. All I know is that I want to rip the skin off my legs to stop them from itching. Yay!

Bye.

Lol.

*waves*

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Then Comes the Crash

Hello, all!

Now, those of you who follow me on social media (thank you!) probably already know this, but I finished the first draft of Salt and Silver!

God, it’s exciting. I can’t even begin to express how much of a high it is to finish writing a book. (Not without taking absolutely forever about it, and, lets face it, that would get pretty boring for you guys.) The feeling of accomplishment is incredibly overwhelming, though.

Of course, now there’s the problem of…the crash.

You see, finishing a book is huge. But I’ve spent the past 4 or 5 months (since the first or second week of January) in the minds of these characters. I’ve lived and breathed their lives and breaths.

Ness, Nolan, and Elias have become so real to me, as do the characters in every book I write. And they have to, really. My writing is deeply psychological and very emotional. I have to flesh the characters out, have to know what drives them. I have to figure out their deepest desires, their coping mechanisms, their humor, the things that make them nervous…

All of it.

And by the time you do that, they’re like real people.

Add to that the fact that I’m a pantser, and it’s basically like the beginning of a friendship (or rivalry, in the case of villains). Every time I sit down with these characters, I learn something new. Every time I think through their lives, I figure out something new in their past that explains the personality they’ve taken on.

Yes, I know. I can practically hear the scoffs and see the eye rolls I’m sure some of you are giving me. I’m perfectly aware that most people who do a lot of outlining and plotting think that all this pantser mumbo jumbo is…well, mumbo jumbo. “You made the characters. You control their personality and their actions.”

Yeah, I do. To a degree.

But for the sake of realism, I have to treat them like people. The only alternative is plotting everything ahead of time, and feeling like I’m suffocating. If they each have their own code, their own personality, then writing them by the seat of my pants is easier. Because there are certain things they would, or would not, do.

Plus, much like real people, fictional people cause all sorts of drama for themselves when left to their own devices.

But treating them like real people has a price. Now, there’s the emptiness left behind by getting their stories out. Because, now, I don’t have to learn more about them. I don’t have to figure out their lives. I don’t have to learn what these friends like to eat, or why they like the sound of the birds in the woods beyond their cottage window, or why they feel guilty all the time.

It’s all done. It’s all figured out.

These friends, in their own way, have moved on. Which makes this “crash” seem a lot lonelier than I intended it to. Lol.

And since I’m going to be editing for a while, rather than starting another story immediately, I’m not building a new world or creating people. It’s honestly…a bit boring. Lol. 12 hours shifts go by so much faster when I have a story spinning through my brain. My mind is desperate to work on something, but…I can’t edit while operating heavy machinery.

Not if I expect to come out the other side of the experience with all my parts attached…I kinda have to watch what I’m doing. Staring at a screen is just a bad idea. Lol.

It’s not like I don’t have ideas, though. I intend to finish The Regonia Chronicles this year, and then there’s Second to None, the thriller that I’m dying to get started on.

But if I don’t do some editing, and get all this other shit done, I’ll never get any of these stories out to be read. Between the rerelease of The Gem of Meruna, Salt and Silver, and the other completed standalone novels (I specify standalone here, because technically book one of Regonia is done, but I’m not far enough with the series to even think about a release for that one yet), I have five books…just…waiting.

And since I’ve decided to self-publish, all they’re waiting on…is me.

We’ll see how stir crazy I get, not writing. It genuinely drives me batty. I may have to do a chapter here and there for Regonia, just to maintain my sanity.

For now, though, I’m about five chapters into the preliminary edits of Salt and Silver. (I have the edits for the next couple chapters handwritten, though, because I worked on it in the cafeteria at work. So…sorta seven chapters into the edit.) This is just the “I put that in to fill a plothole, so don’t forget, take it out, and fuck up the story” edit. It’s also the “Why the fuck did I choose that word?” edit…

Basically, just catching wonky flow and typos while it’s all still fresh in my mind.

I have to tighten it up, basically. Not that my first drafts are absolute monstrosities, or anything, but they certainly need work.

Then, I’ll let it sit while I get The Gem of Meruna ready. Then, back into the minds of Ness, Nolan, and Elias in the world of Salt and SIlver for more edits. Then…drum roll…writing something else. Eventually, some more polishing for Salt and SIlver, and then it’ll be off to beta readers.

So, in case you thought books were quick and easy…They’re not. Lol. There are so many steps involved.

Now, I write fast . The last two books I’ve written took about 4-5 months each, while working full time, with overtime almost every week. Hell, since I started taking my writing seriously in 2014, I’ve written six complete novels, a novella, and a lot of short stories. (RIP the novel I wrote in college, that was lost when the laptop and the external hard drive it was backed up on…fried.)

But there are so many things to do to get a story truly ready for readers. Writing it is only the beginning.

Anyway, though…

That pretty much gets you all up to speed with where I’m at, right now. I’ll set a release date for The Gem of Meruna once I get through some of the updating, and I’ll keep you posted.

For now…

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

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Bits and Baubles

Hello, all!

The end of Salt and Silver is in sight. I can feel it. Just a few more chapters…It calls to me. The notebook lying in front of me on the desk is begging me to open it, and type up the bits that I wrote at work.

After adding over 7,000 words this week (which is pretty damn good, considering the full time job), I’m sitting at just over 61,400 words. I also wrote another piece of flash fiction.

So, overall, this was a damn good week. And, honestly, Salt and Silver hasn’t taken that long. I started it at the beginning of January. The 10th, maybe? So, four and a half months, with a rewrite for the first 40,000 words, overtime every week, a vacation, and a couple short stories included in there…

That’s pretty fucking fast. Lol.

Gotta say…I’m kinda happy with that. Of course, it’s not done, yet. It’ll take another week or two to round it out. Then, one round of editing, and it’ll go on the back burner while I do some revisions on another project. (Gotta give myself some time to forget what I’ve done, and gain some distance before I go in for more serious editing.)

Now, as for the release of my other finished novels and the rerelease of The Gem of Meruna…

I don’t have a schedule pinned down, yet. I have to go through them all, one last time, to ferret out any problems I may have missed before. Plus there are the covers to sort out, and formatting to do. Not to mention marketing…ugh…the part I suck at.

But, I have updated my Works in Progress page to tell you all a little more about each book. If you haven’t checked it out, you totally should. There is so much for you to see. Title and genres are revealed, plus a tiny bit of information on each one. (I can’t give away too much, all at once.)

Now, on to a completely different subject. In the past, I’ve told you all some very, very personal things about me. Today, I thought I’d tell you some random facts about myself.

Preferred writing drink?
Hot apple cider

Background noise when writing?
Preferred, but not necessary. If I’m near a t.v., I turn on Friends. (I can watch it if I get stuck, and find it perfectly amusing, thus taking my mind off the story for a moment, and letting my subconscious work through the puzzle. But, I’ve seen it all the way through so many times that, if I’m writing, I know exactly what’s happening, so I’m not worried about missing anything.) I apply this show to way to many aspects of my life, and quote it…far too often.
Music is always a favorite, but the genre varies widely. Sometimes it’s Celtic metal, other times it’s Russian pop or electro-swing. Sometimes classical, other times rap. It just depends on the scene I’m writing. Different songs fit the mood better than others, and genre really holds no bearing over the mood of the song. And, since I spend 40+ hours a week listening to music at work, I can customize playlists for each story.

Favorite band?
Chelsea Wolfe and Balthazar are tied for first place, because I can listen to just about any of their songs, any time, any place. And they’re both so eclectic. Chelsea Wolfe is grungy folk metal, and her music lends itself especially well to moody scenes or any scene involving magic (the darker the better). Balthazar is indie pop/rock with elements of jazz, vaudeville, and British punk rock, with an overarching Bohemian feel. I always picture a romanticized, turn of the century opium den when I listen to them. People lounging about on hundreds of pillows in the floor of darkened rooms, tapestries lining the walls, incense burning everywhere…Overall, it’s just fantastic music.
NF is second (technically third, since two are ahead of him). His music, specifically the Mansion album, hit me pretty hard the first time I heard it. He’s open and real. He’s seen some shit, and the song Mansion explains how he deals/compartmentalizes in a way that really resonates with me. But I’m not in love with all his songs. He has some that are strictly posturing and flaunting his prowess as a rapper. Those, I could do without. So, I can’t give him the number one spot.

Favorite animal?
Octopus

Hobbies?
This one could take a while.
Reading (obviously), Dungeons and Dragons, video games, photography, singing (though not with people around), archery (novice), shooting guns (novice), car modification (not even novice status), blacksmithing (complete amateur).

Favorite movie?
Moulin Rouge. It gets me every single time.
Also, important note…I’m not a huge movie person. I never really watched them growing up, and only recently started catching up on the ones I “missed out on,” though most of them…I was okay without. Lol.

Worst movie I’ve ever seen?
Titanic 2 or House Shark
I feel like…I don’t really have to explain either of those. Lol. Yet, terrible as they may have been, objectively speaking, they were certainly memorable.
Fun fact: House Shark was funded through a kickstarter or gofundme, in which they didn’t get even a third of the amount needed, but they were like…”Fuck it. We’re doing this.” And then, they did.

Education?
I have a B.A. in Clinical Psychology.

Favorite food?
Pizza, Reese’s cups, or chocolate chip cookies (warm and gooey, of course).
Or maybe bacon cheeseburgers and french fries…
Or KitKat’s…
Basically, I like junk food. Lol.

Any collections?
Old books and documents, four leaf clovers ( I find them often), skeleton keys, random bits and baubles that I find and like (my library is running out of room).

All right, well, I think that’s plenty for now.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

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Whose Eyes Should I Look Through?

Hello, all!

This week, I did something with Salt and Silver that’s a pretty common mistake. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen the video I posted where I deleted a large chunk of text. I wrote that section of a scene, then realized it would be better told from the perspective of my other main character. So, I rewrote the scene from the other perspective, and deleted the original.

Writing from the wrong perspective for a scene can really hinder the flow, and the story, as a whole, and it’s so easy to do.

So, today, I thought I’d go over why main characters are main characters, and why we show certain things from certain perspectives.

Ever wonder why the main person in a book or movie is always “the one?” Or why everything happens to them? Or why they have so much going on in their life?

It’s on purpose. Believe me.

Why the fuck would we write about the hero’s cousin? Who wants to read a story about someone who heard about this kid who got magical powers? Who would sit for two and a half hours watching a movie about the woman who works with a woman who became a vigilante, even though this other woman never did anything cool or funny or daring?

No one.

Because it wouldn’t be interesting.

We write about “the one” because, in their world, they have the most to lose, or face the hardest decisions, or have to sacrifice more. They’re the main character because they’re the main one dealing with the issues of the plot.

Everything happens to them…so we can actually show it to you.

If I write a scene from the perspective of every single character involved in a book, 1) that’s going to be a hell of a lot of work for me, and 2) that’s going to be incredibly convoluted and hard to follow. So…everything has to happen to that character, or, at least, to someone they’re close to, so it still impacts them.

They have a lot going on because…well…they have to have baggage to be realistic. If they have no baggage, if their life is easy and perfect and blissful…that’s hard to relate to.

And unrelatable characters just aren’t as interesting.

Now, if you don’t choose the exact right character to spotlight, that doesn’t mean it’s a complete loss. For instance, I watched a movie called The Silence, recently. It’s on Netflix, one of their originals, I think.

It was good. I enjoyed it. But. They picked the wrong main character.

They weren’t off by much, of course. And, yes, the deaf daughter has her own merits as a character. She’s certainly got some things she deals with (being deaf is a hindrance in our world, and in the apocalypse, as neither world cares much to cater to people).

But the dad is a much more interesting character. He has to make the tough calls. He’s the one to sacrifice, time and time again, getting creative in times of great duress.

The daughter just worries about a guy she likes, and watches the struggles going on around her.

Not quite as interesting.

But I still liked the movie.

So, it’s not necessarily the end of your story if you choose the wrong character to highlight, but it will have an impact.

So, if you’re writing, think about which character has the most at stake. Which character has the most to gain? The most to lose? Who will play the biggest role in overcoming the issues at hand? Who has the most to overcome?

If you’re writing from multiple points of view, and need to decide who to write a specific scene for, which main character will be the most emotional during that scene? Which will be hit the hardest? Who will be the most excited?

Or, depending on what you’re going for, who will be so overwhelmed by emotion that they enter that strange, drifty-numb state where processing anything new becomes too much?

Find the answer to the questions above. That’s your main character.

Sometimes, it turns out to be the villain. Sometimes, it’s a more obvious choice (the chosen one, or some such thing).

And, of course, there are exceptions to the rule, as is the case with anything, especially creative things. Sometimes having one character frame the events that unfold for the true main character is a good way to write. But most of the time, the most interesting character is the best perspective to go with.

Anyway, now that the educational portion of this week’s blog is over, it’s time for a status report. This week, I pulled off 4,649 words for Salt and Silver, not including the deleted portion or the (approximately) 500 words that’s sitting in the notebook in front of me, waiting for me to type it up.

I also just wrote a 1,229 word short story/flash fiction piece. The story was stuck in my head, so I just hammered it out real quick before doing my blog. Lol. I’m still deciding on how to get that out for you all to read.

Posting it in my blog kinda eliminates the possibility of actually publishing it later. Self-publishing something that short without other stories along with it seems silly. I couldn’t get a paperback for it, and I refuse to not have the option of a hard copy.

I may look around for some anthologies that are taking submissions, and see if it fits. Granted, I still have to edit it. But whatever. I can do that later.

For now, I think I’m going to get to work on Salt and Silver. So…

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

Posted on

Sating the Monster

Hello, all!

There’s a quote by Franz Kafka that I love. “A non-writing writer is a monster courting disaster.”

It feels 100% accurate, most of the time, let me tell you.

When you write a lot, it becomes such a huge part of your day, of your life, really, that not writing makes you…anxious. Like there are a million words about three thousand worlds and people, all itching to get out.

Because there are.

Beneath the skin, behind the eyes, of every writer, there lie untold universes. And they’re all trapped, until they meet the page (or the screen). They claw and scratch and shout for freedom.

It’s hard to explain, but every character feels like a real person, with their own mind and heart and decision making abilities.

And they all want their time in the limelight.

Denying that…is hard. Focus drifts back to the story, to the world that you so badly want to be putting to paper. Things that stop you from writing become…a hassle. (Work, chores, etc.)

So, a non-writing writer…a bit of a time bomb. Lol.

But this week, disaster was averted.

I started the week on page 41 of 102 with the rewrite of the first half of Salt and Silver. Now, I’m sitting rather comfortably at the end of page 86 of 112.

And I’m so freaking excited about it!

Of course, I’m still anxious to get through the rewrite and finish the story, but this is just going so well. Now, that I’ve given myself over to the idea of cutting things out, somehow, I’m actually adding pages to the story as I go.

*sighs contentedly*

It’s been a good week.

Anyway, a couple other updates. I’ll be doing an alchemy themed photoshoot in the coming days or weeks. One of the MC’s in Salt and Silver, Ness, is a demi-demon, and she isn’t exactly accepted in polite society. So, she mixes potions and salves in her mountain cottage to sell for coin when she has to venture into towns.

I plan to base the photoshoot around her.

I even made some of the pendants from the story. She has various necklaces draped around the necks of bottles throughout her home, and I wanted to include them. Since I’ve pulled the symbols from thin air, finding pre-made ones wasn’t going to happen.

But I have them, now. I just have to attach them to chains and suede bands.

At any rate, that’s exciting for me.

In other news…

If you follow me on Instagram, you may already know, but Annabelle is being featured in another indie writer’s giveaway. She’s put together a collection of books by indie authors, is reviewing them, and giving them away.

Annabelle received one hell of a review, which I’m incredibly thankful for. Today was the last day to enter for the April boxes, but there will be another drawing in May. So, find @write_read_talk_live on Instagram, and check out her giveaway post for rules for entry. Follow her to stay posted on when the new giveaway will open for entries.

Or, if you don’t want to wait, you could always check out Annabelle on Amazon. Lol.

But follow her, regardless. She’s super cool, and posts a ton of awesome stuff.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I may or may not be self-publishing another novel this year. I’m still debating, to be honest. Currently titled “Where Darkness Leads,” it’s a dark fantasy novel. Like…real dark.

It’s one that…will be hard to find a traditional publisher for. But I’m still toying with the idea.

Traditional publishing just has this…lure about it, this prestige. Being the one out of thousands to be chosen by a big publisher is a very nice thought. Honestly, submitting a manuscript to agents and publishers isn’t unlike playing the lottery. The odds are never in favor of the author. Ever. Most traditional publishers make offers on 1% of submissions. Maybe 2%.

But gambling can be so addicting.

The lure of the reward keeps pulling me along, despite the risk (time and effort that could have been put into writing, not to mention the painstaking research on which publishers/agents to submit to, all of which could very well be for naught).

It’s rather discouraging, at times.

And this particular novel…well, the only publisher I’ve found so far that seemed an absolute perfect fit…closed three years before I wrote the novel. Lol. So there’s that.

*sighs*

*rolls eyes at the ludicrous odds of such terrible timing*

Anyway…

I’d stay and ramble on a bit longer, but…I’m just so excited to get back to writing.

So, for now…

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

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Cavemen and Rants

Hello, all.

*sigh*

So little time.

*sips hot apple cider*

It feels like I’ve been spinning my wheels, stuck in the mud, and going nowhere. So much time has been going to this rewrite. It’s necessary, believe me, and Salt and Silver can’t progress until this is done. I have to relearn who a couple of the characters are after throwing a few new curve balls at them.

And the fixes, the new tensions, the momentum of it all…It’s so much better than the original.

But it’s taking far longer than expected.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the importance of editing/rewriting. If not for editing, most stories would be complete garbage. The ones that wouldn’t be complete garbage, would still be rough as hell. Loose ends would fray, rather than being tied off. Plot holes would swallow entire worlds. Characters would be flat. Grammar and spelling would be appalling.

So, yes, I know this is a vital step in my writing, this rewrite. But I’m so excited to move the story forward, rather than fixing the messed up first half.

Of course, working overtime every week certainly doesn’t speed the process. Every extra minute in the factory is one less minute typing.

Every author knows the struggle of not having time to write, though. Hell, every person who ever existed has felt the pressure of time, except maybe those who lived before time was invented.

But I have to wonder…did they feel it, too? The onward march, the fleeting nature of life? Were they, perhaps, able to perceive the crush of time, even if they had no idea what they were feeling? Did cavemen lament another day passed, another day closer to death?

I digress. That’s a concept for another day. At any rate, I have no answer. All I know is that time is a cruel mistress.

And certainly cruel, tonight.

I just worked a 12 hour shift, and then came home to do a bunch of cleaning. My husband and I are having a new dishwasher installed in the morning, and the house mustn’t be a wreck when the installers get here. (*rolls eyes at own need to impress total strangers*)

Also, note that I said morning.

I am not a morning person. My job usually works quite well with that, given that I don’t have the seniority to get day shift.

But appliance installers…morning works for them.

So, I’m typing all of this up as quickly as I can, for the sake of going to bed. I could wait until tomorrow, but…let’s be honest. I’m going back to sleep once the dishwasher is installed, and the strangers leave my house. Lol.

Anyway. I’m very ramble-y today. For which, I apologize.

So, some positive stuff.

I’m nearly halfway through the rewrite. 41 pages of 102 done.

And I did get some important world building stuff done this week. I made a world timeline, nailing down exact dates for important events. From the start of plagues that happened nearly 400 years prior to the story, all the way to invasions and wars that changed the landscape of the countries involved. I even figured out birthdays and…death days.

I also finally made a map. I had it in my head the whole time, of course. But seeing it on paper, rough sketch as it may be, is helpful. I’ll do a better one later, and I may even put that one online.

So, while it doesn’t feel like enough progress, it actually was a decent amount of work, given the amount of time I actually had. I suppose I should also consider the fact that no amount of progress ever meets my standards for myself.

Again, a topic for another day.

Before I go off on another rant, I’ll let you all get back to your day.

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.

Posted on

Death, My Darling

Hello, all!

Don’t worry. This blog post won’t be as violent as the title suggests. It’s only metaphorical murder that I speak of.

Lol.

There’s a saying most writers have heard, possibly coined by Stephen King, though I think he was actually quoting William Faulkner.

Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings.

I don’t know if that’s the original phrasing, or not, but the meaning remains the same.

As writers, we tend to get attached to particular characters, chapters, paragraphs. Perhaps, a specific turn of phrase catches our fancy, or makes us feel clever.

All of these things, all of these parts of our stories, are parts of us. They’re things that we created, things we literally pulled out of thin air, and, somehow, shaped so that meaning and images and thoughts and worlds and entire people can be put into the minds of others in the way that we imagined them.

It’s a powerful thing.

As such, there is the potential for fixation. This lends itself to the thought that any one thing, if removed from the manuscript, could drastically, and catastrophically, impact the overall story.

So, we hoard our creations, holding fast against the eroding tide of editing.

We get stingy, whether unwittingly or by stoutly refusing to adapt depends on the person. Which, in the end, proves far more detrimental to our writing than the changes we resist.

It keeps us from seeing our flaws. It holds us back from seeing the entirety of the world we’ve created, because this one particular phrase needs defended with every single scrap of attention we can spare.

And, sometimes, changing a manuscript is just downright scary.

Now, as you all know if you’ve been following my blog, I’m in the process of rewriting one of my WIPs (works in progress). It had problems. Plot holes large enough to swallow a double decker bus. Forced romance where it shouldn’t have been. Jarring cut-off points.

In the process of rewriting this week…I had to cut an entire chapter.

Which hurt.

A lot.

That chapter provided a nice bit of humor and a touch of background information for a character that was rather central. It also introduced other characters, which did nothing but hinder the plot. They play no pivotal role, and quickly became loose ends that I would have had to scramble to tie up at the end.

Not to mention…The character whose background we were gaining…has been downgraded.

So, a brief conversation was added later to cover all the vital information, and the entire chapter was killed.

Sort-of.

I saved it in another document, so it’s more like it’s been…locked in a far far far away tower, never to see the light of day. Lol.

In it’s place, there is a much better chapter which highlights a character whose role has been elevated significantly.

And I love the new chapter. Far more than the original.

FAR more.

So, my point is, for all the writers reading this, writing is a mess. Embrace that. Kill your darlings, when you need to. Save them in a separate document, just in case the original was better than the new version, but often times…you won’t need that backup, won’t want it.

For all the readers reading this, writing is a mess. Embrace the polished works wrapped up in gorgeous covers with bows and shiny bookmarks for your pleasure. Because it’s a long road, getting the story to you in a nice, cohesive, easily comprehended, pretty package.

Love them, as we writers have loved them.

We pour our souls into our books. Our time, our thoughts, our tears (yes, seriously, I cry when I write sad scenes), our joy (sometimes to the point where our fingers move too quickly over the keyboard, producing gibberish, as we rush forward, too excited to slow down), our hearts…It all goes in.

One way or another, bits of ourselves find their way into our books. Whether we intend it or not.

We just have to pick and choose which parts to send forward to the readers.

Sometimes, we have to kill our darlings.

But we end up so much better off.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough. Thank you all for coming, for taking the time out of your day to read what I’ve had to say. Thank you for reading my books, if you have. If not, they’re here, on my website. *shameless plug*

Aaaaanywhoo…lol. (Don’t worry, I won’t do that again.)

Keep reading. Keep writing.

Later.