Tightening Your Prose

Often first drafts are written with abandon. Inspiration settles in your fingers, and words spill out like water over the Niagra. But what spills over may not be polished,and it likely is more than is needed to create a good story. Then you must work to shine, polish, and buff your story. Tightening is one way to do that.

Another concern is that publishers require different manuscript lengths for different genres, and when you write your novel, you may not know which publisher is likely to offer you a contract, so knowing how to tighten your story to cut from a hundred thousands words to eight thousand or from one hundred and forty thousands to one hundred and twenty is a good technique to know.

Novelist Tom Morrisey, a friend of mine, shared a blog on his Facebook page called The Prose Diet.  He covers multiple points on effective ways to shorten a novel, but in the same vein, he offers a number of ways for you to improve your prose by being more selective and going for quality.

Here is the link that will provide the details to make those changes. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Morrisey-Novels/109565322410015#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=304759739557238&id=109565322410015. Everyone can benefit by reviewing the major points, Tom, makes to writing the best novel you can.

Words that Confuse a Writer

Agent Steve Laube shares tips writers on his blog, Daily Writing Tips and I enjoy sharing some with you that ring a bell for me concerning my own weakness or ones I find while critiquing work for conferences. One of his recent articles provides good information for authors who sometimes get words confused. No matter how much writers work to spell words correctly and to use words appropriately errors happen. Once in a while words that sound alike or similar but have different meanings sneaks into manuscripts.

Although writers edit their work many times before submitting, at times words are left behind that shout “mistake” to an editor who is considering your manuscript. One mistake might slip by but more than one can trigger a rejection. Even good articles might be passed up, because the editor has a stack of hundreds on his/her desk. Why pick one with a glaring error when another as good is error free?

This article on 15 Frequently Confused Pairs of Verbs is one that can remind you of where to be extra cautious when writing an article or a novel. Hopefully you will find it helpful. Check out other articles on Steve’s blog. Blog on http://www.dailywritingtips.com/15-frequently-confused-pairs-of-verbs 

Creative Brainstorming Fiction

A writer friend brought my attention to a website that will give you some very creative ideas to help you with writing fiction. It's a brainstorming tool that I found extremely interesting.  The Periodic Table of Storytelling is the first page, and though I didn't spend much time there, I was very intrigued by the link that provide a plot generate.  You'll notice that everything list in the plot generator is a link that explains the term or gives you story, plot or character ideas. Try this link and then look down in the text for the next link.

http://computersherpa.deviantart.com/art/Periodic-Table-of-Storytelling-203548951
Then go to the home page:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage

Look at categories on the left which provide all kinds of ideas for ways to handle various situation in your fiction. Though you may not use the exact method, I'm sure it will trigger new ideas for you that are original and exciting. This is a unique form of brainstorming.

Topics are:
narrative - example: plots, settings, spectacle, characterization, motifs

genre - example: action, horror, love, speculative, drama, comedy

media - example: radio, television, theater, tabletop games

topical - example: betrayal, death, family, food, holiday, memory, religion, money

other categories - example: split personality, creators, true and lies, weirdness isolation

You can spend hours looking through everything that's available on these links, but I think you will enjoy the creativity that it provides to trigger your brain. Brainstorming is an excellent way to make your novel as unique as it can be and to create a page turner.