A modelers tool for writing projects

Posted on by Farangian

As a kid I made plastic models. At first, before I knew better, I threw away the leftover bits and pieces. That was before I learned to keep a parts box…

One of the best lessons of my years making plastic tanks, jets, and other models was that serious modelers keep a parts box, a place where they store those leftover bits and pieces. Why? Because sometimes the extra bits are useful in making other models. If you have extra parts, you can customize kits and experiment with techniques cheaply and safely. Having and using a parts box gives you options and helps you develop your skills.

The lesson of my parts box paid off for me as a college student.  When you’re doing psychology research, you need to run statistics, and big stats packages like SPSS and SAS frequently require you to do a little coding to do the big heavy-duty analyses. Some of my fellow students dreaded those big analyses. Not me… I saved my code and re-used it. For a lot of the big analyses the code is fairly similar. So, I could copy a previous use of the same test, modify it, and have the new test ready much faster than if I had tried to code it from scratch.

Over on the fiction side of the house, the concept of the parts box is still helping me.

When we edit, we sometimes struggle with those bits of writing that we love, but know we need to cut. It can be hard because you don’t want to lose those little gems, even though they don’t fit the current story.

Well, with a parts box (in this case a folder on your hard drive/cloud/flash drive) you can save those bits. And, after you’ve saved them you can use them!

Are you looking for inspiration? Need a writing prompt? Climb around in your parts box of fiction pieces you already love (or at least find interesting). Odds are that there will be something in there that works for you.

Are you stuck on a scene? Maybe the solution is already in your parts box. It’s just like back in the old days with plastic models; if I’m stuck I can ask myself “Do I have one of these already?”, and then go look.

The concept dear reader, is to create a place to store those bits that are too good to throw away, but aren’t necessarily useful right now. If you’re in this business long term (and most of us who really write are) they will be helpful eventually, and they’re easy to store (and if you can figure out a good naming and organizing scheme, they can be fairly easy to find!).

I practice what I preach dear reader (or at least I try to…), and a writer’s parts box is helpful. In my first “one and a half pass” through the novel I’m working on I’ve found over a dozen ideas that I should really explore in short stories of their own. Putting them in the “box” means I don’t forget them and I can use them to both expand my world and fill those times where I’m really having trouble finding something to write (it happens…).

It’s not an absolute “have to”, but it’s an idea I encourage you to try. And, I think I’ll go crawl through mine to see if I can find a little help for this next chapter.

If you have questions or experiences with a writer’s “parts box” I’d love to discuss them with you. And… I’ll see you next post.

Blowing out and reading up…

Posted on by Farangian

When I’m not writing I’m occasionally known to do metal work. Among my favorite moments is the moment where I safely (yes, I hear some of my old teachers yelling) plunge a hot lost wax mold into water. It’s one of the most exciting, rewarding and sometimes gut-wrenching moments. It’s the moment you get to see your design realized in metal… Unless something went wrong. And then, you’re working at a lump of metal that was supposed to be your project but didn’t work out.

Once your metal comes out of the mold, even if your piece comes out well, you still have a lot of cleanup work to do. The sprue has to be cut. The scar from the cutting has to be filed down. The whole thing needs to be sanded. Pits may have to be filled.  And after all of that you still have polishing, and stone setting and inlay tasks that may be waiting.

There’s a point in the writing process that’s almost the same, and as I write this, I’m in the middle of it… If you’ve finished a first draft there comes a moment when you have to go back to the start and edit that first draft. Instead of discovering a successful casting we hope to find a good manuscript, but we still have a lot of cleanup to do.

The processes are similar.  True as writers we rarely attack the project with saws, files, scrapers and sand paper. We rarely worry about literal pitting and porosity. But we still have cleanup and fixing to do.

It’s just that we cut words instead of oxidation and roughness. We polish words rather than surfaces.

We still face parts that didn’t quite fill in the way we wanted. bits that don’t look as good as we thought they did when we started, and parts that will take more work than we thought they would.

It’s an exciting part of the process and, just like with metalwork, it’s a good idea to look over (read) the whole thing before jumping in and working on stuff. Some bits will need to be moved. Some parts will need to be reworked. If you’re like me, you may have a section that needs a different point of view (or was just plain in the wrong place).

Reading through and looking over can be depressing and hard… There’s so much to do! But by completing a read through we can make an actual plan that saves time, effort, and heartache in the long run. I’ve written about the “1 ½” pass editing technique before , and this represents the first ½ pass of the technique. it might seem like you’re not getting a lot done. But, by getting a look at the whole thing before you fiddle with parts you can cut out one or more whole editing passes because you have a better idea of what you need to do and why.

Those of us who “won” NANOWRIMO, and anyone else with a first draft manuscript in front of us have a lot of work to do, and a first read through will make the whole process a lot easier.

That’s it for this one dear reader. I’m on my way to finishing my read-through, and I suspect some of you probably need to get back to writing too (you know who you are…). So, I’ll see you next post.

Not politically correct, but…

Posted on by Farangian

Merry Christmas dear reader. Merry Christmas to all!

There are those who would tell me not to say Merry Christmas, that saying Merry Christmas is somehow offensive. Well, I’m not going to say they aren’t entitled to their own feelings, but most of the “Don’t say Merry Christmas” crowd that I’ve met either don’t understand what the phrase Merry Christmas means, or they don’t want you to have a Merry Christmas.

Yes dear reader, there are people in our world that don’t want you to have a Merry Christmas; there are people who don’t want you to have peace, joy and hope! But, to you and them I say Merry Christmas.

Christmas is a Christian holiday. I know that there are Christians among my readers. I also know that there are Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and many others… And I respect your rights to follow whatever faith you choose (if you’re at a place where you choose not to believe I respect your right to do that too…). I also expect others to respect the fact that I believe what I do. My beliefs come from a lifelong process of learning and seeking for understanding. I do not believe the things I do lightly.

Christmas is the celebration of a birth, the birth of a person who would spend his life teaching all who would listen regardless of race, gender, or social class. This person, our Savior, then capped those teachings with a personal example. He laid down his life for us and then took it up again.

To teach what you believe, even when it isn’t popular, takes courage.

To live the things you teach takes even more.

So, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. I’m ok with that. I hope you change your mind but I’m not here to force or silence you; that’s against what I believe in. But please accept that I celebrate the life of one who “walked the walk” and “talked the talk”.  Please accept that I have considered beliefs and that when I say Merry Christmas, I am wishing you love, joy, and peace; and celebrating the life of someone who not only taught principles, but lived them.

I am also celebrating the fact that we (all of us) can practice what we preach. That we have the right and the ability to both say and do according to our beliefs and principles. That’s what Merry Christmas means to me dear reader.

And so, Merry Christmas. And, I’ll see you next post!

Scrivener… after NANO thoughts (part two)

Posted on by Farangian

Last week {link} I started my after NANOWRIMO review of my experience with Scrivener. This week we’ll pick things up where we left off and start with the things I really appreciated about Scrivener during the first draft process.

Chapter titles and finding stuff (organizational help)

Last week I mentioned that the way Scrivener handles documents and folders can cause some headaches in dealing with titles and finding things. But there’s positive power in Scrivener’s.

Because of the way Scriver handles document, folders, and chapters, it becomes easier to go back and insert that piece you know really belongs between chapter 2 and chapter 3 but you didn’t come up with until you were working on chapter 9.

Because of the way Scrivener works, it is easy to move parts and pieces around. I find I’m much more willing to move things to where they should be because there is less effort involved. If I decide that Chapter 14 should really be chapter 3, I drag and drop. I don’t have to worry about changing all the chapter numbers because that will happen later during a compile (and without me having to lift a finger or click a mouse!). It is also easy to combine or split up parts of a chapter (even when you’re importing that chapter from some other program…).

One of the data views in Scrivener is note cards on a corkboard. And, it is just as easy to move your stuff around in the program as it is on a real corkboard (actually easier because it’s a drag and drop versus shifting all the cards).

Compiling and formatting (with stuff you’ve written)

As I mentioned, chapter numbers happen during the compile process (and happen mostly automatically!). There’s more to it than that. When you compile, you can compile to a standard manuscript format, just compile to print, or several other options (including an E-book format).

If you put in the time you can even create custom formats to compile to.

You need to learn what the different formats do, and maybe even tweak them for your purposes. But once you put in the effort to learn, formatting becomes fairly effortless. You don’t even have to worry about ordering those chapter numbers.

And, you can simply and easily create several versions in different formats; if you’re self-publishing you can create the print book and E-book versions at the same time. (Gee… I remember when I used to pay someone to make the E-book…)

Statistical information

Besides being a writer, I’ve got a degree in psychology and have a deep love of statistical information. Scrivener provides a variety of statistical information about your work, including things MS Word and other packages don’t…

Scriv example

As you can see you get a typical word count and character count for the whole project (the parts marked for compilation at least…). But you also get page counts both in standard manuscript and novel formats. You also get these statistics for the specific text document you’re working on within the project at the same time. That means all you have to do is open a document and get statistics on it, along with information for the project as a whole. No more “highlight the whole section you want a count on” headaches…

Seriously, the statistics options make it easier on writers who want to make their chapters relatively consistent, and give you a better feel for exactly how big your novel would be as a standard paper back. The information makes it easier to figure out where you are in some real-world aspects of your book.

Keeping it all together

I mentioned that things within a Scrivener project can be marked for compilation or not. This is powerful because you can tailor things for different packages and audiences. If I was using Scrivener for a business plan, I could do tailored sections and keep them all together in one unit while only printing the ones I want for the particular audience I’m providing the plan for. The money folks get more on the financials. The marketing guys get more details on how to sell what we’re making or writing. And I don’t have to have multiple versions of the business plan lying around and wonder which one is which.

Within a Scrivener project you can also add notes and research information, including PDF documents… That means those of us working on a well-researched book or a doctoral dissertation can include the research information we use and cite within the project. No more trying to remember which article by that one scientist is the one I quoted! There are also options to interface with research packages like Qiqqa.

Summing up the positives

Scrivener allows you real freedom in writing a draft. You can move things around and don’t have to be as focused on final formatting while you’re doing a first draft. You don’t have to stress about chapter numbers while you’re trying to focus on getting the order right. I found myself more willing write directly into my Scrivener project than I have been with MS Word manuscripts because I knew how easy it was to move things if I wanted to and I could just focus on getting the words right without having to fool with formatting questions in the first draft.

I can also fiddle with different formats without too much effort (which is more of an editing thing, but helpful in figuring out what the $%@#$@@!!! I’m doing…)

I can also include my research, notes, and reference materials in the same package as my actual text. In practice that means fewer documents and “stuff” to worry about keeping track of, which is helpful since I like to let things settle a bit between first draft and serious editing.

There is a lot of power to be found in Scrivener, and that’s just based on a first draft.

Summing up (the big one…)

If you make the jump to Scrivener, you will have some learning to do.  A lot of things look different in Scrivener as compared to MS Word and similar programs. You will have to break or change some habits and develop some new ones. But Scrivener has been created for writers working on books, screen plays and other big projects. It has powerful tools that can be helpful and worth the effort to learn about.

Those are my thoughts about Scrivener now that I’ve used it for a first draft. We’ll probably come back to Scrivener and Scrivener issues in March or April (after I’ve had some experience editing in Scrivener)

In the meantime, do you have any thoughts on Scrivener? Any questions? If so, leave a comment. And either way… I’ll see you next post!

Scrivener… after NANO thoughts (part one)

Posted on by Farangian

Last time I talked about Scrivener  I said I would get back to it after NANOWRIMO. So, that’s where we’re going today dear reader. Actually, we’ll be talking about Scrivener this week and next week, there’s enough to say just based on my first draft experience.

This still won’t be an entire, comprehensive review of Scrivener (I spent the last month writing a first draft not just learning a software package…), but I definitely learned some things during NANOWRIMO that have shown me a thing or two and will affect my writing process from here on out.

First… A general statement: If you make the jump to Scrivener from other programs like MS Word there will definitely some habits that need reshaping. The nature of the software is such that it works differently. But, if you’re going to work on writing a book, it’s worth the effort to make the change. Once you’ve learned to use Scrivener, some parts of the writing process become much easier. And… some specialized tricks and features available if you have both Scrivener and MS Word.

Next… The things I wasn’t fond of (but can live with…):

Formatting (While Writing):

The standard format that Scrivener works in is RTF and the screen view you see while you’re writing is basic and doesn’t reflect the layout that will exist on the printed page. This is something that takes getting used to., at this point in the game (working on the first draft and early edits) layout doesn’t matter as much for a book or story. There is enough editing and other moving around that needs to happen that you’re not seeing a finished product yet anyway.  Scrivener’s way of dealing with formatting has big payoffs later, but if you’re used to functioning in MS Word, or are a very visual person, this can be off putting.

Printing (a piece at a time):

Over the years, I’ve developed a habit of printing out the day’s written work and adding it to a physical copy of the book. Well, that gets more complicated with Scrivener. In Scrivener you need to compile before you print, so there’s another step. If you compile to print, there’s no dialog box to choose which pages to print.

Don’t get me wrong, you can tell it to print only certain sections of the writing but you have to make those selections before you compile to print. And, as a result, you don’t get the same pagination you would when printing a section of a Word document.

There are workarounds, for instance you could compile to a pdf and then print part of the pdf. But if you want to print the latest part of a work in progress on a regular basis, you might end up with a bunch of PDFs that have to be deleted or stored…

But, in the “print today’s work” method pagination can get off anyway if you insert a section between parts you’ve already written. So, you’re not giving up a lot. And, like I said, things will change between first draft and ready to publish, so the “print your daily work” method has pagination problems anyway.

Chapter titles and finding stuff

Within a scrivener project you have folders and text documents. For a fiction manuscript, when you compile the document the folder names become chapter names and the documents within the folders become chapter content. This can cause headaches when you have sub folders you forget about. You should also remember you need not type chapter titles into the documents within the folders.

Once you see how it works, it seems to work well. But, I still have to figure out headings and subheadings within a chapter (not so much for my mid-grade novel, but I’ll want them for other projects…)

Summing up the negatives

The issues I’ve mentioned are more about getting used to a different program and work flow. There are ways around them and ways to cope with them. Though it takes effort I think working in Scrivener is worth the investment.

Next week, we’ll look at what I really liked about Scrivener while working on the first draft process. If you’ve got any thoughts so far, leave a comment.  And, come back next week for part two!

NANO’s here…

Posted on by Farangian

Well, dear reader… NANOWRIMO starts next Friday.

As usual, I’m putting aside other projects to push my way through a new manuscript. So… I’ll be giving the blogs a rest until December. I’ve got the manager stuff handled. I’ve made sure the other characters and stories on my plate are safely locked away until I finish. (Umm… Zeek, check that door again… Geez… Let’s rounded ‘em up, again… This time make sure they don’t have lock picks ok…)

This year I’m working on a mid-grade/YA story (Planning for mid-grade but could skew a little older) about Ruby, the younger sister of a character in my 2017 project. Hopefully, this one will be a little simpler to do and get into print faster (Not really the sister’s fault she and her fiancé ran into people who got a little Downton Abbey into my fantasy story…).

Since I’m running with some younger characters and heading for a younger audience, this time I’m aiming for 50-60 thousand words. Which is a step down from the 75-85 thousand word manuscripts of the last two years. But, I’m also hoping less unexpected themes and subplots pop out at me…

I’m confident in getting the NANO win (it’ll be the 5th running win…). And I’m hoping to learn a few things.

I’m also inviting you to join us in the fun and madness of NANOWRIMO (if you haven’t signed up already (in which case see you in the trenches)).

And, either way, I’ll see you next post (in December…).

Soundtracks for writing?

Posted on by Farangian

Environment is important for writing. There are a lot of plusses and minuses to writing in different locations. There are also a lot of elements in those environments that can be hard to control. But, there’s one environmental element we can control, and even bring with us as we travel. It’s also been claimed to have the power to transport us to other places. It’s as simple as listening.

Music can tell stories. Music can trigger memories. Music can tap into raw emotions. Music is a tool that shouldn’t be overlooked in the preparation and process of writing.

There are also complications and problems. But many of those can be controlled by choices you make.

(Some of) the problems with music

Some of us like to write in public. And, it’s problematic to listen to our ‘writing music’ in public places. We don’t want to be offensive, but we also want our music. Can you (safely) wear headphone or ear buds where you’re writing? What about finding somewhere that has ambient sound/music that works for you?

A bigger problem, whether you’re in public or private, comes in the form of sensitivity to lyrics. I don’t mean the “I’m gonna shoot a cop then rape your grandma” lyrics (though there are problems with that kind of lyrics…). The problem we’re talking about is that for some of us, and in some processes, lyrics in music can be distracting.

This one is easier to cope with when you can choose the music you’re listening to (so… in your writing spot at home or using those ear phones/buds…). Choose music with lyrics that work for you, or just instrumental music.

It’s true that sometimes the lyrics you’re listening to get in the way. Sometimes that happens. For me it happens more in new writing. I like lyrics during the editing process. The answer (as usual dear reader) is to experiment a little, learn what works for you, and use it.

And music can work for you dear reader.

Music, emotion, and taking you there

Music (the sound portion) operates on a different level of thinking/feeling than the spoken word. It can convey emotion to us in ways the written or spoken word can’t. This effect can be amplified when you add the right lyrics. Because of this ability, music can be helpful for getting into the right headspace for a scene in a story, or for building up our courage for writing that difficult or scary part of your non-fiction (both my wife and I have finished graduate degrees we know about difficult and scary parts in writing fiction and non-fiction…).

Music can also be linked to a time and place. That’s both good and powerful.

It wouldn’t be too hard for me to get to some of the physical locations we call the old west (a lot of them are within a day’s drive). But, getting back to the time of the old west is harder. Music can help with that. I can find modern (recorded) performances of old western music to help put my mind in the frame of that time and place.

I can also pull out my Japanese, Pilipino, and Thai music to get me over to Asia.

Or, I can throw on some Bach or Telemann (You know… Just in case I need to get back to Leipzig in the 1840s and my TARDIS is in the shop…).

We have the technology to feed ourselves a steady stream of music that helps us be in the mental space to write and even to feel a link to times, places, and experiences near and far. We can use that music to inspire us and make writing easier. (It even helps some of us concentrate better!)

For me, developing a ‘soundtrack’ for a writing project is as useful, or more useful, than ‘teacher approved’ techniques like outlining. Thinking about and planning my soundtrack gets me thinking about what the themes of the story are, what the feeling of the story is. In its own weird way, planning my soundtrack is outlining the story on an emotional level… It can also count as part of my research if I’m doing a period piece.

What are your thoughts about soundtracks for writing dear reader?

Leave a comment if you like. And, I’ll see you next post.

Scrivener… Almost first thoughts

Posted on by Farangian

Early this year I rehabbed a laptop. I wanted a word processing program on it and didn’t want to pay for another MS Office license. So, I bought Scrivener, and then used my other laptop and desktop instead of the one I just fixed. Then, I learned a few things about Scrivener, and I kept using Word because I had too much to do to learn a new program.

But, in the last month I’ve wanted to work differently. Some organization features I’d heard about with Scrivener weighed on my mind. So, two weeks ago I pulled out the manual. And, I have to say I’m impressed.

What scrivener isn’t

There are some things it’s obvious Scrivener is not.

It’s not another Word/Open Office/Word Perfect style word processer. You can write in it, but it’s not a straight forward create a document word processor. And, that’s good. It’s a larger, more flexible, system that can interact with Word and several other products. It helps the writer organize and create, not just type.

Scrivener isn’t a linear tool. You could use it linearly, but it’s more of a pain than going linear with a standard word processor. If you’re just going to use Scrivener linearly you miss a lot of its power (and might as well go back to your wax tablet and stylus).

Scrivener isn’t something you can ‘just use’. You need to think about your project and how to use the program. Again, that’s ok! Actually, that fits with the principal we have around here that you should think about what you’re writing!

What Scrivener is (so far…)

I’ll be coming back to this. I can tell that already; this is just the start of the journey. Reading the manual and thinking about the way I write, I can see Scrivener has a lot of possibilities.

  • I can include all my notes and inspiration stuff in the project without having to include it in the draft.
  • I can do script stuff, book stuff, and HTML in the same program without having to worry about formatting issues.
  • I can compile (format) and print/export parts of the project in a variety of ways without having to mess with the main projects formatting (I can do E-book, print, and web formats with a few mouse clicks without having to screw up my main document).
  • I can easily create pieces, move them around and know what they are without having to read or navigate the whole thing.

Those last two really intrigue me for both blog posts and books. I can put a whole series of posts into one project and have them all in one concentrated, easy to find, spot when I’m adding to the series. I can add and quote parts with a couple of clicks. If I (and my readers) like a subject enough, I’ve got everything concentrated into one place and can move seamlessly from the blog series to writing the book.

I think scrivener will help me on new editions and rewrites of previous stuff. I can import the word files (and other types, especially RTF files) and then break them up and organize them better and a lot more easily than I could in old school word processors.

So far, having climbed through the manual and doing some initial experiments, I think there is a lot of power in Scrivener. I definitely think it’s a tool for serious writers to consider.

I’ll come back to this one after NANO (I’ll know more by then).

In the meantime, dear reader, do you have any thoughts, rants, or questions about Scrivener?

Leave a comment if you do. And, I’ll see you next post.

Plantser’s gambit…

Posted on by Farangian

Well dear reader, as of Monday this week I’ve announced my NANOWRIMO project for this year.

I’ve talked about NANO before (like a couple minutes ago in my other blog…). I’ve shared some thoughts about why I do NANO . And, I’m doing it again (both talking about NANO and taking part).

This time around I’m building on what I’ve learned over the past four years and once again using NANO as a sandbox to experiment with something new. I can do YA fiction. I can do fantasy. I’ve even successfully written cross gender. Now I’m shooting for a mid-grade fantasy featuring a female protagonist.

Trying this during NANO I know it’s a first draft. I know there’s a lot of work to be done on the back end. So, I’m not afraid to experiment. This is only the first draft, the sandbox model, not the final product. So, I can tell the internal editor to back off and get some real writing done.

NANOWRIMO is also my version of a vacation…

I’ll be talking about NANO again before November first, as a “plantser” there’s prep to do, even though I’m not doing a full “planner’s” outline… I would also love to see you join us (if you haven’t announced your project already (If you have… Great! I’ll see you there!). If you’ve been wanting to write a book (even if it isn’t a novel), or if you want to write another one… Check out the website and join us!

Think about it dear reader. And, I’ll see you next post.

POV and understanding

Posted on by Farangian

This week I finished the “1/2” portion of my 1 ½ pass editing pass for the Johnson Farm reedit and The Calm Inside the Storm. One of the biggest results is some serious thought about point of view.

Some scenes only get one point of view. Sometimes there’s only one character around to have a point of view. Sometimes only one character is trustworthy enough to give his/her point of view (and then unreliable narrators happen…), sometimes we’re trying to keep it simple and only use one POV throughout the work. But sometimes we can benefit from multiple points of view on a scene or situation, even if those points of view don’t all make it into the final work.

Multiple points of view can make for a complicated scene and a complicated story. But:

  • Sometimes multiple points of view are informative. The reader can learn more about the situation and the characters. If your hero describes the scene one way and the villain another, you can learn something about the story from the differences, the things not said and the things that conflict. As a writer, you can “show not tell” by allowing your reader to extrapolate from multiple accounts.
  • Sometimes one character might “have the angle” and can see something another character can’t. if this is true for only one character and the information is relevant, then you want that character’s point of view on the page. If it happens for two characters, you should consider ways to get both points of view onto the page.
  • Sometimes you learn something from writing from a different character’s point of view. I have a case of this in my current work. Both John and Jamie have accounts of a particular scene and those accounts will be in their respective stories. But, Jamie’s mom is also in the room and I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around decisions she’s making. Solution: rewrite the scene from the mother’s POV. It probably won’t make it into the book, but the finished scenes will be better because I know what the Q%$@#!!! is going on in mom’s head while the teens are being teens.
  • Sometimes those points of view that don’t make it into the main work can be used in other ways. I just mentioned rewriting a scene from Jamie’s mother’s perspective. How hard will it be to turn that scene into a promotional short story to help advertise the book? (I don’t know because I haven’t written it yet, but it’s a possibility)

Alternate points of view can be a resource sink. But, sometimes the reader and the author learn something worthwhile. Writing from multiple perspectives can help you and your readers understand things that would otherwise be missed or require a bunch of story-slowing exposition. Multiple perspective take more work (sometimes…), but if they make the story better, they’re worth considering.

These are my thoughts dear reader. What do you think? Are multiple points of view good? Bad? Over complicated? Enjoyable? Leave a comment if you’re so inclined, and… I’ll see you next post.