I went to England on an overseas study program during my junior year in college. One of my travelling companions, Dan, kept me laughing most of the trip with his very off-beat sense of humor. He would tell people we met that he was a 'doctor of grammar, with an emphasis in punctuation'. I thought it was funny until I began writing seriously a few years ago. I could use a doctor of punctuation about now. These commas are going to drive me crazy!
When I started my story in 2009, Stefanie (my smart and patient niece) gave me a refresher on grammar basics: join two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction and a comma, avoid the passive voice, get plenty of rest and drink lots of liquids (wait - that was one of my mom's rules). I processed most everything she shared with me, but the commas still give me grief. I'm finally getting a better handle on them. During my last proofreading exercise, I probably added seven-hundred commas to my 130,000 word manuscript. I stopped counting after a while, but I know that I was in high triple-digits. I am now reviewing each chapter and checking to make sure that I've got my coordinate/non-coordinate adjectives punctuated correctly. For example:
I was alarmed by the faint, fuzzy glow surrounding the alien until I realized I wasn't wearing my glasses. Faint and Fuzzy are coordinate adjectives and should be separated by a comma. As a general rule, if you can substitute the word 'and' for the comma (...the faint and fuzzy glow surrounding...), then you are working with a coordinate adjective set.
The long flower beds filled with wilted violets made my heart ache for spring. Long and Flower and non-coordinate adjectives. Putting 'and' between them doesn't work (The long and flower beds filled...).
What is your 'Achilles heal' when it comes to grammar? Punctuation problems, like me? Overuse of adverbs? Repeating words? How do you go about cultivating better grammar habits?
Chapter 1.
The rain had been failing for longer than she could remember, longer than seemed possible. She sighed and watched the untended flowerbeds through the rain streaked window...
.
.
.
"...eureka, madam! You have done it! And what will you call your new invention?"
"I will name if for my husband, rest his soul. I shall call it 'The Umbrella'!"
THE END
How many writers start with 'Chapter 1' and write until 'The End'? Does anyone do that?
I've started a dozen or more stories over the years. I'd come up with a cool idea, jot down a few ideas, and then write up a few paragraphs. That was usually about as far as I would get. I didn't know how any of these stories would end, so I found myself getting lost.
When my current story started coming together for me, I went through my usual processes: I defined a few characters, came up with some cool ideas (a pretty good spin on time-travel, for example), and wrote down some chapter notes. I started floundering until I figured out the ending. It took me a few days, but I came up with a good ending and then stepped though all the details. I was thrilled! Within four or five weeks, I was up to 70,000 words (granted, most of them were not very good, but that is beside the point). Two things really jumped out at me during this process:
1. How 'happy accidents' began filling in portions of the story. I couldn't tell you how many times I just wrote something down and found that it was pretty good. Not sure what you would call this, exactly. Instinct? 2. How action in later chapters began driving action and events in earlier chapters. Working backwards is a great technique for me. What techniques work for you? Do you generally write things sequentially, backwards, or do you skip around? Do you outline first and build from that, or do you write things down and then outline? Do you rely on 'happy accidents', or do you write with more intention?
"Chloe strolled down the hallway, arm in arm with her girlfriend Maria." I wrote that sentence a few months ago, not really planning to create a same-sex couple. This was one of those 'happy accidents' that occurs from time to time. I liked it, so I stuck with it. I was influcenced, I suppose, by a piece I had written for a fan-fiction contest the month before. I've read probably twenty-five different books since October of 2011. I've been sticking with YA fiction, for the most part, although I've read some urban fantasy and a few thrillers. In all of those books, I've seen only two gay characters. Twenty-five books, two gay characters, no couples. Before I added a same-sex couple to my novel, I decided to get some perspective on this topic. I emailed an author and an agent and asked them if they were seeing gay and lesbian characters in popular fiction. The author never replied, but the agent sent me a nice message. He told me to follow my heart. That has worked pretty well for me to this point, so I decided to keep Chloe and Maria in the mix. I've even expanded their roles a bit. I like a diverse cast, I needed more female characters in important roles, and I like them; they're a cute couple. What do you think? Do you want to see more gay and lesbian characters in popular fiction? Is there a significant difference between a gay character and a gay couple? How about a gay or bisexual main character? Link to 'The Seventh Village of Tokakeriby Tomb Raider Story Competition'. http://www.tokakeriby.com/VOT7
For better or worse, I've been a Windows user for the last fifteen years or so. I've used various flavors of Windows at work and at home, and I guess I am just comfortable with it.
I use MS Word for word processing. It is relatively cheap (we bought the three-user home version), it is stable, and there are tons of users out there who can give you tips. With all that said, I don't like the spell checker or the grammar checker. I needed more, but I wasn't sure what.
In June of 2010, I started using a document reading program called 'Text Aloud', by NextUp Technologies. I paste some text into Text Aloud, and it reads it back to me or burns it to an MP3 file for later use. Having your work read to you is a very different experience from reading silently or from reading it aloud yourself. Don't get me wrong - reading your own work out loud is a VERY good technique, but your brain will still occasionally 'auto-correct'. The document reader will read the text as-is, which is very helpful when proofreading.
As much as I like the document reader, I found that it was not quite enough for effective proofing. I've found literally hundreds of missing words, incorrect verb forms, and lots of misspellings. However, the document reader will not point out stuff like missing commas or very subtle misspellings (teaming versus teeming, for example). I just recently purchased (rented, actually) a grammar-checking program called 'Whitesmoke'. I've seen repeating words, those subtle misspellings that can be hard to catch, and it's also revealed some of my bad writing habits. I was using the words 'try and' (as in, "We'll try and find out what happened.") over and over. I've since removed and/or corrected at least five instances. Like any grammar checker, it is not perfect. There are typos and punctuation errors that will still slip by it.
What are your favorite tools? Text Aloud was about $60 from Amazon two years ago. It came with AT&T Natural Voice software, which is definitely a step up from the robot-sounding 'Microsoft Mary' voice. Not sure if there is a Mac flavor or not. Whitesmoke is available for PC or Mac, and there are quite a few licensing options. I chose the one-year license for $80. I like it, and I will probably by the perpetual license (I think it is perpetual, anyway) for $140 next year.
I never imagined that this project would go on this long! I started in August of 2009 thinking that this was going to be a short story, and I would be done with it in a month or two. One-hundred and thirty-thousand words and 33 months later, I am on the verge of finishing. I hope to get through my final proofing this summer and then begin sending out query letters to agents in the fall.
When I began in the fall of 2009, I assumed it would be easy. Just sit down and write, right? I also thought that I would be doing this more or less by myself. Of course, I was wrong on both counts. This has been a very challenging process - much more so than I could have imagined. I don't think I could have made it this far without the help of my friends and family. My wonderful wife Eileen and my niece Stefanie got me started, Laura, Ty, Cathleen, Nate, Gina, Jenny, Tawnya, and all the others from my writers group kept me going, and of course, Nancy, Rich, Tina, Marie, Ray, George, Ginny, Mary, Barb, and Chris all read through some of the awful early versions and gave me very candid and helpful feedback. Thanks, everyone!!
Kind of a short first post, but I'm new at this. I'll try to post something every week. Thanks, all!
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