CPCS

A great post from Teens Writing For Teens about Chronic Passive Character Syndrome!

CPCS

Taking a break?

Last night a friend told me I should take a step away from my unfinished MS and do something else. Not because I'm necessarily slowing down or stuck, but because I pushed so much during NaNo that I should give myself a break before finishing it.  I can see where this could be helpful, but I'm also concerned if I leave it, even for a week, that I will become disconnected and struggle to pick it back up.

So I pose the following questions to other authors out there. Do you think, after a big push (I did do 57k words in the month of November), it's a good idea to step away for a week or two before going back to writing?  Have you tried it? How did it affect your writing?

Any advice, ideas or general snark would be welcomed!

Snark of days past

Skimming through the Miss Snark archives, I came along this lovely piece of advice which I will have to remember during my editing process:

One of Miss Snark's most common complaints: double verbing.
Any time you see "was" "had" "were" with another verb you can probably remove it and spiff up your writing 100%.

Dialog, When is it too much?

Reading back over what I've written the past few days, I've noticed it's mostly dialog. While it certainly helps the reader to understand the character's personality and of course what's going on, is it ever too much? My characters are spunky with a lot of attitude. The dialog proves this, but I worry that I am not describing the surroundings enough and am relying too much on the "he said she said" to tell the whole story. I'm guessing these are things that can be remedied during editing and rewriting. For now I suppose I'll keep going as I have been and get to the finish line before worrying about it too much.

Caldecott Awards

As a long time reader and lover of graphic novels (manga, manhwa, etc.) and comic books (oh Marvel X- series I did so love you) I could not agree more with the linked article that it's time to consider graphic novels as Caldecott Award winners.

Anyone who says that they are fluff and not good reading has either not been reading the right ones or not picking them up at all. While I am more familiar with graphic novels from Asia, I have read a handful of American brand books.  The plots are intricate and involved.  There are real stories there. Morals, lessons to learn and all.  It's not just fluff with the occasional T&A thrown in (although there is some of that out there...). Added to these interesting and often exciting stories is amazing artwork that helps the reader picture the world, the character's mannerisms and personality and atmosphere.

I also think comics and graphic novels are a great way to turn a non-reader on to the wonderful world of the written word.  Is that not a great thing?

I hope that the members of the ALSC will really stop down and take a look at what's out there in the world of graphic novels.  I think many will be surprised and delighted with the complexity they find.


It's Caldecott Time

Amazon contest

Could you be Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award winner?  You won't know unless you enter! With two novels in the works that need finished stories and one that needs a re-write/editing, I definitely cannot go for this, but I am sure there are some of you out there who are ready and just awaiting your chance! Enter and best of luck to you!

Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest

Jealousy

Ooh you lovely green eyed monster. You're so fun to write about. You cause people to punch things, lie, turn on their friends and all sorts of other great reactions that can lead to greatly expanding one's word count. Our son of a scientist, Ryan is sooooo not a fan of Cat Boy and when he hears that the damned Felinian has run off with his object of desire,  he is definitely not a happy camper.  Thanks emotional characters for acting predictably tonight and allowing me to get a decent word count in!

Tomorrow we get back to our MC and her Cat Boy, whom I hope will be talking again. Books need dialog, you know?