HR Writers Guild

Fingers fly across the keyboard much like a concert pianist.  No thought or sound seem to radiate from mind to fingers.

The words flowing softly, quickly like a babbling brook from the tiniest drip searching for the vast open waters. Gathering speed then slowing suddenly only to pick up again round the next bend.

The joy of knowing a world, a body, a mind is created.  The soul sings and flies from tree top to tree top, searching for nothing other than the joy of being.

Faster and fast the fingers fly; the indescribable joy bursting at the confinement; it presses harder and harder as a world of words and sounds spread throughout the body, flowing from the end of the fingers, on to the keyboard and out into the world.

Words and images scream into the air bursting in radiating light, breath taking to behold in all it’s pinks and oranges, and yellows.

Colors trickle from the air and a soft rainbow mist gather across the fields, waiting.

I have been very productive (a relative term, I know). I am at the very threshold of 35,000 words in my novel, and I work on it quite consistently. Sometimes I write a few paragraphs only to a hit wall, and I erase them and start over, but it’s always for the best. It’s easier when I know exactly where my book is headed. In fact, knowing where the book is headed has brought me to think more on where this one should end; and whether I need multiple books to tell my story.

One of the goals I posted for myself and my writing weeks and weeks ago was to decide whether my story could fit in one book, or whether I would need a sequel or even trilogy. I am leaning toward trilogy.

Book 1: Riaone from the start (at her home, Stillwater) and her journey with Tsa Sial, Jaim, and Garel all the way to the Academy in the kingdom of Chare. After a year or thereabouts at the Academy, Riaone is confirmed as a Legate and is told she must train in Higa. End of Book 1.

Book 2: Riaone commences studies in Higa and Tsa Sial, Jaim, and Garel continue their individual exploits, which were just beginning in Book 1, in this book. Book 2 follows their separate narratives and ends when these four, along with the other two Legates, meet up in the end and the Legates must fulfill their destinies. End of Book 2.

Book 3: I don’t want to give it away, but Book 3 is not about Riaone. None of my books are written in first person, but the first two books do focus on Riaone as the top main protagonist. Book 3 is written from a different top main protagonist, but one who has been nevertheless featured a lot on Books 1 (a little) and 2 (much more). It ends by changing the way the world works forever.

I imagine my story unfolding in three books because I just feel like I am writing so much; but my (many) characters need appropriate time for development, and I think that appropriate time is three books. I don’t care how long they get, but I don’t want it to go over three books and risk losing readers’ interest in the story or even their interest in choosing to start reading the series. I am no Robert Jordan, with his ten-plus novels.

Are there any drawbacks to telling a story in multiple books that anyone would like to share? Plus-sides? Warnings?

Congratulations to two of our writers. While I’ve been lacking in my commitment to my writing, my fellow writers have not been lacking in their commitment. Two of my fellow writers are nearing the completion of their first final draft.

Their goal: to have a complete final draft done by July and August respectively. If things go according to plan, I will be reviewing 2 draft novels amid a very tight business schedule. I can’t wait.

The problem: while critiquing is necessary and fun, it does make it hard to follow the plot and time line…sometimes. It’s kind of like looking at a grain of sand under a magnifying glass versus enjoying the beach. I look forward to reading the completed manuscript like any other reader from beginning to end.

While the little details are are easy to see in short 20-30 pages, the overall feel, flow, and tempo are sometimes missing. It will be quite an adventure to sit back and get to know the characters in a totally new and unique way. Will I see the characters the same way? Will I feel the same feelings for the good guys and the bad guys? Who knows, but I am looking forward to finding out.

Who knows maybe I’ll finally get inspired seeing a completed novel and start carving out daily time to finish my own novel.

Bring It On!

Wow! Can you believe it? March is almost over. I’m not sure where the time went!

I ‘ve been busy with niche writing for my client’s sites, designing sites, blog walking, and critiquing. I’ve been working diligently on my own novel, although it always seems to take a back seat. However, my clients over at CreativeAce are quite happy and I have a couple of new ones ready to go.

The great thing about blogging, creating sites for others, or creating niche articles for other sites is that I learn a lot and can take that knowledge and build better and more creative sites for my new clients. It’s much like critiquing another story. Some writers only want their story or poem critiqued, but have no interest in helping other writers. I find that this is a big flaw. Not only is it selfish, but they pass up a great learning opportunity.

My writing becomes stronger with every post, article, or critique that I do. The flaws I see in other writings are often things I do myself or have done. The great thing about niche writing or content writing is that your words need to flow, be precise, and get to the point quickly, then resolve the issue.

ABCs of Writing

Niche Writing should be Accurate, Brief, and Clear. This means that extra words should be cut whenever possible. Why say “The man from the Geek Squad came to the house and helped us set up our Internet connection” when you could say “The Geek Squad helped set up our home Internet connection”.

The change makes for a tighter article. Prose writing is much the same thing. You may have 300 pages to enthrall your reader, however, if you use unneeded adverbs or 3 words when 1 or 2 will do then you will have a harder time convincing your reader that what they are reading is believable or lose them as they drift off.

Novel Writing

When writing a novel you have time to develop the plot. The author may not think that every word counts so she gets lazy and throws in more words than are needed to get to the point or setup the conflict. This is fine during a first draft, after all I find it easier to delete words or ideas than it is to create a new one and push it into the plot.

As we sat around the table last night for our biweekly writer’s meeting, it was obvious to some of us that the end a chapter we were critiquing  had 2 paragraphs too much. So I asked, what’s the point? Did it help setup the conflict, shed light on a resolution, or aid in defining the character’s inner turmoil?

The short answer was no. It didn’t lend to any of that, it over explained and took away the tension that the author had built. So in the end, 2 paragraphs of words were axed and the chapter was much tighter and didn’t break the tension.

I’ve heard that some authors go through their novels with a fine tooth comb and ruthlessly rip out every word that is unnecessary. I’m not a big believer in that, in fact, I wonder how long it takes to finish a novel if you’re pondering over every little word. I do believe in looking for places that you have stumbled. Is there a sentence or paragraph that you read and your mind drifts somewhere else or conjures an idea that is not part of the story? If so, then that is the section  you need to examine and improve. Is it too many words? Is it an unnecessary adverb? Or is it just simply a wrong word choice?

By critiquing other writers works or writing in a different genre you can learn how to improve your creative writing and how to streamline your words to give the most informative and creative experience for your reader.

Do you write in more than one genre? If so, do you find it helpful to write in more than one style or does it make it harder for you?

Good luck in your writing, in whatever genre that you choose

A few weeks ago I sent out a tweet asking for Guest Posts. Kellene was one of the first to respond. She has written about how she got into writing and the path that lead her there.

I don’t even remember what it looked like, but it ended my 18 year drawing career. During my senior year of high school I accidentally spied a fellow student’s drawing and immediately conceited mental defeat.

Several weeks past. Then I entered a senior announcement contest. One winner would get their saying/poem/anecdote printed and sent out to thousands of family members and friends.

I decided why not? 

But I made a mistake in mine – three lines were supposed to repeat, but for some reason I made only two match each other.

Then I flew to New York for a high school trip. I had six hours to kill so I thought I’d entertain myself and write. And write. And procrastinate. And write again.

The girls next to me wanted to see what I was doing. I obliged and let them read my story. They fell in love with it. Back in Reno, I was given a rare opportunity to read aloud what I wrote for my English class. Most listened including a very attentive Ben Hull.

 We were then given a free write class assignment – whatever we wanted to do, but we had to read it out loud. When I was done, Mrs. Anderson said, “I have always wanted to teach my students to write like that, but I never knew how.” I crafted sentences like ‘the coffee germ lighted up my soul….’ – images that had no connection whatsoever melded together by my brain and pen.

 Days later I got word I won the senior announcement contest despite my glaring mistake. The corrected final version was sent out to more than 13,000 people.

 A few years later Mrs. Anderson died of cancer.

During college, I focused on getting good grades than writing well. Until one day when I was in my media law class. I raised my hand to ask a question and the professor halted his entire lecture to loudly proclaim ‘Kellene Stockwell everyone. Best writer this school has ever produced. Your question….’ I was so stunned I sat silent.

I wanted to go to UCLA for film but it was too expensive, so I went into the second best marketable career – print journalism at the University of Nevada.  

I was excited since I’d be doing a lot of writing. Print was for me until I took my first class. The material was so hard I withdrew within three weeks and moved into broadcast. (One girl I grew up with passed the class and went onto to become a political newspaper writer in Reno. A second girl went on to win a shared Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Columbine massacre.)

Then during my junior year I made a near fatal mistake. I wore a black and white suit to class (for my theatre audition), but the teacher thought I was going for a NEWS job interview. I thought it was ok I finally reveal my innermost secret – no I don’t want to be a reporter or serious newsperson, I want to go into entertainment. I was looked down upon until my graduation. I was one of the first there to ‘mock’ what this serious journalism school offered. Twelve years later, many Nevada broadcast journalists aspire to be the next Entertainment Tonight star. And they have the ease now to do it thanks to my big mouth.

 After college I was hired at a local TV station and I learned the hard way to write scripts. My ‘trainer’ left after one week. So it was up to me to learn firsthand.

Then one night during my shift I learned Ben Hull was killed by deputies during a mistaken identity case. I couldn’t believe it.

As time wore on my news scripts got leaner and faster to read. I took a lot of care in that. But I also learned there isn’t much creative wiggle room allowed in writing. Besides the basic who, what, when, where, why and how that’s it. I needed a creative writing outlet.

I decided to fulfill my screenwriting dream and attend UCLA. But the money and residency still held me back. And then I found a certificate program that’s completely based online. I didn’t have to move or get out of my pajamas to attend class. I was in heaven. I’m actually graduating in a few weeks.

I decided it was important to educate myself on the proper way to write a screenplay. Yes, I could read books or start writing blindly, but in the end my resulting education would be the key factor.

For my 2010 New Year’s Resolution I decided to focus on my writing. I want to leave behind a nice legacy of work, so I started querying magazines and online sites including this one. With all the knowledge I’ve gained, I think it’s just as important to give back and help others.

I’m also re-starting my novel again. It’s time. I plan to dedicate it to Mrs. Anderson and Ben Hull.

So how did you get into writing? Drop us a line and let us know, who knows, maybe you’ll turn it into a post.

You can find more of Kellene Stockwell’s writing at her blog Diva Diaries.