Stumbling Through Writing, One Word at a Time

Blog to throw all my thoughts about writing a novel, from someone who's not at all qualified to write a novel. She/Her. pfp by the overly talented @lutraslutra; background credit: Raymond Lam

[bellisima-actually-writes]

A Rambling Post about Editing

So... editing. It's tough. When we think about writing we think of the fugue state, the possession by an idea, the typing so quickly until our fingers seem to fly over the keys. It's sort of like that scene in Old School (yes, I am that old). You know the part where Will Ferrell blacks out on stage? This one!

But the reality is, that's probably the quickest part of the entire process, because EDITING... oof, that's where the hours and the staring at the screen and the rewriting of one sentence over and over and over again happens, at least for me. Most of my time is spent in this dreaded phase.

But it's where I'm able to make the real transformation happen. A lot of my early writing is discovery: who are these characters? How do they interact? What is their style and tone and overall dynamic? And then in the editing phase I get to weave all the threads together, do the call backs and whatnot to previous chapters and themes. It's where it moves from a collection of scenes to a story, and eventually, hopefully, into a novel.

So last August I finished the first draft of book 1 of my Drifters series and, either foolishly or brilliantly, decided that instead of going back and editing that I would write book 2 which is a prequel. I have no regrets because so much of the world was clarified in that second book, but now I have two first drafts and TONS of editing before I start on book 3 in a year? Maybe two? Or five? I don't know yet.

For this, I am trying not to jump in feet first to edit the details, which is what I'm used to doing. This time I have to look at it at a high level, the chapters and the content of each and decide 1) what needs to stay and go and 2) what order do I tell this in. I also need to do a lot of work on one of my MCs who wasn't as hashed out as I'd like and give her more of an individual arc.

So I'm going through chapter by chapter making a reverse outline of sorts with as much detail as I can, highlighting what needs to stay, what maybe can go, and where to move things to make it all flow as best as possible. The first draft of this story had each chapter split into two parts, one in the past where much of the exposition happened and one in the present where most of the action occurs, and I am going to loosen that a bit, with every chapter occurring entirely in one or the other to keep from the jarring feeling of being pulled back and forth. Sounds simple, but it's pretty complicated given how intertwined some of these chapters are.

So, I have a lot of work ahead of me, with a LOT of words to cut (around 40k) and a lot of story to build out. But I am excited to return to these characters. It's a lot lighter than Ronan in many ways and is set in the present which is a completely different vibe. But both books end in the same place so the complexity of tying them together while making them work as standalone stories is also a challenge.

But I'm actually really looking forward to editing this book and sculpting it into what it can become.

[ceribrennanwrites]

Word find tag

Hot cold hard soft are my words from @winterandwords, thanks! I use all of these words a ton apparently. I was quite tempted by an out of context "It's hard with one hand." All from The Teacher.

Discomfort from the fae’s presence crawled over Leo and he felt his muscles relaxing like it was hot bath water.

Cold fingers settled against the back of his neck like the personification of terror and squeezed lightly.

Leo closed his eyes, drifting. Cool lips pressed to his forehead, soft as the brush of an owl’s wing.

“You don't need to be here.” Pathetic how hard those words were. Leo reminded himself the kid was a vicious little snake.

Tagging @the-inkwell-variable @doinglinesakawriting and @duckingwriting as well as open tags for anyone who feels like searching their WIP for the words: skill, eat, dream, and hands.

[winterandwords]

✍🏼 Last line tag

Thanks to @bellisima-actually-writes for the tag!

📝 Share the last line you added to a WIP (or a last chapter line, or the last line you edited, or the last whatever works for you)

I've been choosing a snippet from each chapter of Miles From Morning to put on the promo graphics, so here's the last one of those that I chose...

It’s fucked. The whole thing’s fucked. The entire system is an irreparable disaster filled to overflowing with catastrophic exploitation and cruelty.

Tagging @cheerfulmelancholies, @diphthongsfordays, @dyrewrites and @eyes-talks-ocs if you'd like to do it, with an open tag for anyone else who wants to join in 💜

Reblogs, replies etc on my tag posts are always welcome, but if you're doing this tag yourself, please make your own post instead of using mine to start a reblog chain.

Want more of my writing than I post on Tumblr, with all my stories, blog posts, updates, and audio readings? Head on over to my Patreon! There's a totally free membership option and I'd love to welcome you to my cosy little queer fiction community 💞

[bellisima-actually-writes]

Find the Word Game

@ceribrennanwrites did an open call for skill, eat, dream, and hands and as I'm STARTING to go through my Drifters first draft I haven't touched in a year for structural edits (need to cut around 40k) and thought I'd use this to remind myself of what made this story and these characters shine for me. So here goes (NOTE: these words were written by a version of me who had written two fewer books than I have now, so, ya know):

Skill - At the far end was an entrance to the back room where pool tables and dartboards beckoned the more socially-awkward to flirt with skill rather than wit. 

Eat - “But” — she continued, scrunching her nose at him — “I’m allowed to be disappointed. So…” — she opened the bag she was holding and took out a big piece of cheese cake — “I get to eat my feelings.” Henry’s eyes perked up. “And no, I’m not sharing.”

Dream - So many advancements in human philosophy, alchemy, and witchcraft were born from the thinning of the boundary between realms, which allowed for ideas to permeate dreams and inspire the human mind.

Hands - Exhaustion’s fingers dragged their way up Oliver's spine and across his scalp, only to be brushed away as an otherworldly force took his hands in theirs, softly cradling them as it welcomed him home. 

Open tag for anyone who wants to play. Words are gaze, smile, scent and soft.

Have fun!

[sarinisanta]

Look writing a new chapter is cool but the 10th revision of the first chapter is mandatory at this point and who needs to write chapter 3 anyways.

[sarinisanta]

Look writing a new chapter is cool but the 10th revision of the first chapter is mandatory at this point and who needs to write chapter 3 anyways.

[elumish]

Your story can lie to the reader, but make sure it's lying to the reader on purpose.

[elumish]

Lying on purpose: the narration or dialogue intentionally presents inaccurate information to show information that is unknown, misunderstood, or intentionally hidden from or by the POV character, and/or to facilitate a later reveal.

Lying by accident: the "telling" contradicts the "showing" because the author either doesn't understand the implications of what they are telling or doesn't understand the implications of what they are showing or both.

[elumish]

Lying on purpose: the story tells the reader dragons are all dead. It turns out dragons are not all dead.

Lying by accident: the story tells the reader there is gender equality. The vast majority of the people shown to have societal power are men.

[librarysilverfish]

The fine balance of "yeah the POV character probably knows that tertiary side-character's name, so you might as well use it in the narration" vs "this cast has 2837771 characters already and the reader does NOT need another one"

[orangelizardtattoo]

Today's Hype Post!

It's that time of day my darlings! Tell us some wonderful little details for your original writing project or work in progress my dears! (No fanfiction please- it's a wonderful medium but not the focus of this blog post.)

TODAY'S QUESTION:

Which part of storytelling do you think people systematically underestimate?

[sodaliteskull]

The effort it actually takes to tell a story.

So many people treat the act of storytelling like it's something easy. How many times do you hear, "Yeah, I've been thinking about writing a book" from someone who can barely string a text message together? Like they can just bang out the next Great American Novel™ on the first go, no prior storytelling experience needed?

A story is so much more than just words on a page - its the characters and their motivations, the world in which they walk, the trials that they face, as well as all the things that they don't see but you, as the one telling the story, have to know about. That's a lot of irons in the fire that people who don't understand storytelling don't realize are even there. Subtext, imagery, allusion, hell, even basic spelling and grammar are difficult for some people to understand let alone master, and so it comes as a huge shock when they put pen to paper only to find out that what they wrote isn't all that good in the end. It's probably one of the reasons LLMs are such a popular writing tool now, as a person can just toss in their ideas and have something else write the story they want without having to go through all the trouble of learning how to write themselves.

It takes a lot of thought and care to tell a story, and so many people don't care to think.

[ceribrennanwrites]

Last line tag

Thanks @mrbexwrites I love this one, low effort haha.

Silken fabric grazed his skin and he turned in time to get a beautifully painted whale mug to the face.

Tagging @bellisima-actually-writes @aadhube @cwritesfiction @revenantlore if you feel at all like sharing the last line you wrote in your WIP.

[bellisima-actually-writes]

Last Line Tag

Thanks so much for the tag @ceribrennanwrites! I finished the first draft of my WIP almost two weeks ago now (*sobs*... i miss it) so here's the last line I wrote for that one that also happens to be the last line of Ronan's story:

Ronan turned and scrambled to escape, but not before Daio sealed the Gateway, locking them in.

No pressure tag for anyone I know working on any kind of writing right now. Here are a few names off the top of my head: @addledmongoose; @curiouspupsicle; @di-42; @haemey; @grayintogreen; @evajkrammerwriter; @scistoryteller; @winterandwords

[manorofshepard]

The Shepard Chronicles: Small Update Time!

Hello everyone!

I am officially free to do whatever I want now I've done two books to completion and 1 is being published in September.

I'm gonna take some time off, go through book 2 in a read through in a couple of months or so and then see if there's any mistakes in it that I can't see, one final check before I start the publishing journey for book 2 next year

I'm so proud of myself. I've done a lot of work this year, but after some yo-yoing with my editing of book 2, my final wordcount is 112k.

The characters have been through some shit, and I've actually woven in a new overall series plot thread into the book, which will only become obvious as you read through the series

I'm off to play Mario or Pokemon or something. Inbox is open for questions about what you've read so far about my wip, what you know about the characters

Athena.

Tags list: @garthcelyn @nightmaricwriter @kitcatling @bardic-tales @lordkingsmith and anyone else i cant remember interested

[ellatholmes]

if you're a writer i wish u a very plot/story/character epiphany

[hayatheauthor]

Tropes You Can Use Instead Of Killing Your MC’s Parents

Dead parents aren't a bad trope. However, if you’re looking for something different, here are some suggestions: 

1. Neglect 

Not every uninvolved parent is cruel about it. Plenty genuinely love their kid and still manage to be absent in every way that matters; distracted by another family member, buried in work, or just not paying attention. The tragedy here isn't hatred, it's how invisible a kid can feel to someone who technically loves them.

2. Abuse 

This one's more direct, physical, verbal, or both, and it does real damage to a kid's sense of self-worth even when it's "just" one kind. What makes this more interesting than dead parents is the complexity it forces into a character: love and fear can exist toward the same person at once.

3. Constant Conflict 

Growing up in a house where your parents never stop fighting does something terrible and very specific to a kid. It’s something hard to explain to people who have never experienced it. It sticks with kids even when they’re adults. They learn to read a room before they even understand why, they always tense up or anticipate conflict over little things, and they often end up feeling responsible for a fight that was never theirs to fix. 

4. Career-Driven Absence 

The parent isn't dead, isn't neglectful out of spite, they’re just never actually there and a demanding career is the culprit. Technically, you can’t ‘hate them’ because their career is all for the kid, but that also means the kid ends up raising themselves by default.

5. Controlling Parents 

This one shows up more in "successful" households than people expect. A kid gets pushed toward a specific path, a business, a legacy, a reputation, whether they want it or not, and pushing back gets them held even tighter.

6. Toxic Dynamics 

Gaslighting, constant comparison, backhanded criticism dressed up as concern. The cruelest part of this one is that the kid usually doesn't clock it as toxic for years, because it's the only normal they've ever known.

7. Quiet Estrangement 

Sometimes there's no dramatic reason at all. A family was close once and just drifted, slowly, without either side really choosing it. This one hits differently because there's no villain to blame, just distance that crept in.

8. Parentification 

The kid becomes the parent in every way that matters, raising siblings, managing money, holding the household together, while the actual parent is out of commission somehow. This gives you built-in maturity and resentment in the same character without needing a single death in the backstory.

9. Addiction in the Family 

A parent struggling with addiction creates a specific kind of instability, love that's real but unreliable, promises that don't hold, a kid who learns not to count on anyone too soon. It's a different flavor of loss than death or any other type of neglect you can make excuses for.

10. Incarceration 

A parent who's physically gone but very much alive changes the shape of a kid's grief entirely. There's no closure, no funeral, just an absence with a return date attached that may or may not actually happen.

None of these need to replace dead parents completely. Sometimes death really is the right call for your story. But if you're reaching for it out of habit rather than because it's actually what your character's arc needs, one of these will probably hit harder simply because readers haven't seen it a thousand times already. Happy writing! :)

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

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[cwritesfiction]

Writers’ Chat: Time Machine!

If you could give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be? What’s something you’ve learned as you’ve grown as a writer?

Writers chat prompts

Share an excerpt prompts

Writeblr Engagement Prompts Overview

[eggletine]

Write scared. Write messy. Just write it now. Fill the page, make it pretty later. Keep writing. Write anything. Write everything. Long form fiction isn’t the only way: it’s a format. Dabble in poetry. Cough up that script. It’s not a stupid idea - it’s one you’ll decide whether it’s worth a long project or a sit down session. Just write. Start over. Keep starting over. Keep trying. Consistency is different for everyone and we are no exception.

One day? Or day one?

Also, keep a fun project on the side. And for the love of everything schedule in breaks.

[possessable]

i like it when a motherfucker gets killed with their own weapon btw. 5 star trope. everybody in the club be killed at last with their own weapons dealing the fatal blow

[scribbledwriting]

My characters during the editing process:

[lichfucker]

[image description: a still of chidi from the good place. he’s saying, “we’ve been through some version of this 800 different times.” end id]