From the archives: O'Abby's ways to push your story forward

There were no questions for O’Abby this week.  I guess everyone is busy doing #NaNo! So I dug this handy bit of NaNo advice out of the archives

We’re past the halfway point of November now, and if you’re working at the pace to finish your 50K by 30 November you should be hitting or passing the 30K mark around now.  But don’t worry if you’re not there yet.  There’s still time to catch up.  Personally, I don’t get a lot of writing time during the week, so I tend to blitz my word count during the weekends.  I have also been taking one day off work per week to write, and that’s definite motivation to crank out those words.

Just do whatever works for you and make the most of whatever time you can scratch together.

Around about this time is where I often feel like my story is stagnating so I thought I’d give you a few ideas for ways to shake things up a little in your story.  Ideas for how to push your characters into doing something new that might move things along in a significant way.

•  Someone from the past shows up unexpectedly
• A character close to your protagonist dies
• A potentially life-altering secret is revealed
• Your protagonist loses something valuable
• Some kind of natural disaster occurs
• Someone has an accident 
• Someone moves to a new city/country/house
• A monster – human or otherwise – enters your protagonist’s world
• A random act of kindness
• A crime is committed

These are just some ideas that might help push your characters.  They don’t need to happen to your protagonist directly – sometimes something dramatic happening to one of your secondary characters will motivate your MC more than if it happened to them directly.

The point is to shake things up to propel your MC into some kind of action.  And whatever obstacle you put in their way, whatever challenge, make sure it isn’t easy to overcome.  Your characters need to struggle.  They need to make the wrong decisions more often than the right ones.  Every choice they make needs to make things more difficult for them, throw up more challenges for them to face.

Hopefully this will be helpful if you reach a point where you feel flummoxed and can’t move on.  If there are no questions for O’Abby next week, I’ll share some more tips for getting past potential roadblocks to finishing.

Dear O'Abby's NaNo Tips (Part 2)

 Well, we're two days into NaNo so I thought I'd share a couple more handy tips that might help you through this punishing month.

1.  When you finish writing for the day, don't stop writing at the end of a scene or chapter.  Keep going a little longer and write the start of the next scene or chapter.  Even just one or two lines.  That makes starting the next time easier because you're already on the way.

2. If, like me, you figure out in day 3, 5, 9 that you've started in the wrong place or in the wrong POV or the wrong voice, don't use that as an excuse to toss in the towel.  Just keep writing, making the switch to the new POV/voice or whatever and make a note where you make the change so you can go back at the end and rewrite that first section to fit.

3.  Sometimes the story you set out to write doesn't end up firing once you sit down to start writing.  Maybe another idea leaps into your head and you get super excited about that one instead.  Go with it.  No one says you have to finish the story you started off writing.  You can work on multiple projects during NaNa, adding valuable words to each one.

I actually always find it useful to work on two stories at the same time.  If I get stuck on one, I can turn my attention to the other and that usually helps unstick me eventually.

Enjoy the intense period of creativity!

X O'Abby

What Makes a Story Compelling? Tuesday Tricks and #WriteTips

 What makes a story compelling? What draws the reader in?

I recently finished a seven book series, and yes there were tears when I said goodbye to the characters, the story, and the bow with "The End" on the ribbon. And yes, this series made it to my "yes, please, I want them all in hardcovers so I can reread the series more than once. Can I start rereading now, please?" list, with the hardcovers on order. No qualms if I read them electronically before the hardcovers arrive. The series was that good.

Why did I find this particular story compelling, often stopping the other books in my queue to read additional chapters and books for this saga?

The characters. They were struggling with issues I have struggled with and am currently facing in my own life. Like how to deal with parents, what it means to be a friend, how to heal from bad things happening, how to fight for what you believe in, and so much more. The characters changed from book to book that was real and thoughtful, making sense logically and with that kernel of humanness that made the characters breathe life into the words they said and the actions they took.

The plot. Who doesn't want fantasy with a little bit of everything, including romance, friendship, magic, and fighting on a Tolkien scale? There were twists and turns I couldn't predict, which is a huge win for me. I don't like guessing right all the time. Though the main character was fond of creating plans to hoodwink her enemies, she progressed to creating plans with her friends and allies, with the exception of a few in the final volume, instead of doing everything on her own.

The setting. Jungles, desert, sea, woods, mines, mountains, castles, cities, country roads, and villages. You name it, it was probably a location. Imagine the film or TV version!

The magic. I am a fan of magic systems. How does the author describe it? What are the logical components and world rules? Is it something I would want if I were living in that world? Would my "brand of magic" fit in? 

But the point is, we as writers need to ask ourselves why we read in the first place, and why we want to write. Ask what about the story compels you. Buying a hardcover and wanting to reread it again, leaving a good review, and telling others about it so they could perhaps fall in love with the series, characters, plot, setting, and magic are some of my "compelling story" markers. 

What do you find compelling in stories?

Bonus points if you can guess the series title and the author.

Week 1 of NaNo 2020

 

(image source) (Corgi writing his novel)

Wow, it is day 3 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)! The word count total for today is 5,001 for the traditional 1,667 words a day. The Reverse NaNo goal for day 3 is 3,101 and a total of 9,663.

But do not stress the word count! Remember the goal is to write your story. There are still 27 days left in the challenge. However, I do recommend bulking your word count with some sprints, where there is a timer, and you write as much as you can. There will be days where it is harder to write and days where it is easier. Every word you write is a victory.

And if you need some help increasing your word count, check out some of the tips below:

1.      1. Write notes to yourself in () or @@ or ## so you can easily find these sections later and delete. But do not delete them until December 1! Every word written counts toward your goal, even if you know it will not make it to the next draft.

2.      2. Add adjectives. The typical order is quantity, opinion, size, age, color, shape, origin, material, and purpose, according to this source. I tend to not include description of everything in my first draft unless I am experiencing a brief writer’s block. Then I start describing everything!

3.      3. Do a word sprint for 5, 10, 15, 20, or however long. I like the shorter sprints because then I can focus on the story and typing as fast as I can. Then I can take justified breaks before going into the next sprint. Check out your local NaNo Region on the site and find people to do sprints with. I enjoy the bots on Discord who keep track of your word goals and counts for the day. You can earn raptors for your region!

a.       The Legend of Raptors: So, raptors are a throwback to the old IRC. Timmy is the bot over there and he is insane and spends a lot of time announcing raptor sightings. Over the years it evolved- eventually he started counting how many raptors were in each region, then the raptors would attack other regions, then they started running away and or running to your region to rehome. Then Utoxin introduced pet raptors, where you could adopt a raptor, name it, and it would track your word war totals through the month & go steal plot bunnies from other regions. It was a delightful and silly way to be reminded other places in the world were doing nano, too, and often inspired people to hop over to other regional channels and make friends. ~~ StephanieRidiculous

4.      4. The usual adding “and,” breaking down contractions, and naming characters with multiple names can also help. Watch out for hyphenated words. They may have a different count for validation near the end of the month. Do not worry about that now, of course! 

5.      5. Stop spellchecking. This is a difficult habit for me since I check it whenever I see those squiggle lines. Keep adding words instead! I am always amused by which words are my most misspelled. It changes every NaNo, and I still cannot spell “restaurant” or “apocalypse” without spellcheck. My favorite is “Yoda” instead of “yoga.”

 

Do not forgot to save your work and back it up. Comment below how you are adding words to your story this year. Feel free to tell us the genre too!

 

Happy writing!

 

 

Dear O'Abby - I'm Behind in NaNo. How do I catch Up?

Dear O'Abby.

I'm behind on my word count for NaNo, and I'm not sure I have the time to catch up.  Do you have any advice about how to do it?  Have you ever managed to get there when you're way behind on the word count?

Yours,

Behind.

Dear Behind,

I'm with you.  I'm also behind on my word count.  I'm malingering around 26K.  At the pace I'm working, it's unlikely that I'll reach 50K by November 30.  So here are a few things to try if you want to pick up the word count and make it to the end.

The most important thing is to prioritize your writing.  If, like me, you have a demanding day job and a family, it's hard to make time for writing.  But this week, talk to your family and see if they can make a few concessions to your writing.  Maybe your partner can cook dinner a couple of nights so you can write for an extra hour.  Maybe your kids can.

If you have to take your kids to swimming lessons or ballet or any other activities, see if you can write while they participate.  Sit in the car and do it, if you have to.  Just make the most of that time.

And this weekend, see if on at least one of the days your partner or another relative could take the kids out for a few hours to give you space to write.  Or stay home with them so you can go somewhere quiet to write.

Or, if it's at all possible, see if you can take a day off work.  Two even.  Maybe you have a lot of leave days piling up or haven't taken any of your sick days yet this year.  Take one or two days and write during the hours you would normally be working.  You'll be amazed how much you can do in just two days.

That's what I'm doing this week.  Taking two days off to just write.  I'm hoping to get through 10K in those two days, which will get me back on track to finish by 30 November.

But that's not going to work for everyone.  So if you can't take time off, and you can't find anyone to watch the kids or take over any of the chores, you will have to find the time somewhere else.  If you put your mind to it, it's amazing what you can get done in an hour.  So maybe get up an hour early and write before everyone else gets up.  Or stay up an hour later at night if you're an evening person.

Use your lunch breaks if you need to.  Or your commute if you're not driving.  But I think I've talked about those pockets of time elsewhere.

The key thing to remember is, you can do this.  You can find time.  Any time you find yourself swiping idly through your phone, that's time you could be writing.  So use it and use it well.

Good luck!

X O'Abby

An O'Abby tip for NaNoWriMo

I guess everyone is writing novels this month instead of emails to O'Abby...

So, we’re a week into NaNo. How are you going? Are you sleeping? Are your kids getting fed? Is the laundry piling up in the laundry and the dishes on the kitchen counter?

If so, don’t worry. It probably means you’ve been writing. Or at least I hope you have!

This week I want to give you a tip that might help you if the initial rush of starting your new book has worn off and you’re starting to feel like writing is just too hard.

It is tempting to give up once that initial burst of excitement and productivity wears off. Once you’ve written that startlingly original beginning you’ve been imagining since you first came up with the idea for this story. Maybe it didn’t come out on the page the way you imagined. Or maybe it hasn’t sparked the next scenes in a way that makes you excited to sit down and write.

Don’t stop.

There’s bound to be a scene somewhere further in the book you are excited to write. A kissing scene, maybe? A piece of action you have choreographed in your head? An emotional moment that brings a lump to your throat each time you think about it?

Write it.

Now is not the time to be precious about writing in a linear way. Write the scenes you want to write, the ones you are excited about. The ones that made you want to write this particular story. You can fill in the stuff that gets your characters from the beginning to that point later on. I know a lot of writers don’t like to write out of sequence, but if you’re struggling to get to your word count, or feel stuck in your story, this is a way to push past that block and possibly free yourself up to move on.

The great thing about this technique is you can use it over and over again through the writing of your project. Any time you get stuck, just leave your characters where they are. They’ll still be there where you get back to them. And often writing through scenes later in the book will give you ideas that will help push past that sticking point.

Remember this isn’t a final draft. It isn’t even a first draft. If you hit your 50K words at the end of the month and there are still holes in your story, it doesn’t matter. You can fill them in. Or maybe you’ll find you don’t actually need all the connective tissue you thought you would when you started writing.

Hopefully this will be helpful for you. It’s something I use all the time when I’m drafting, during NaNo or any other time. I’ll let you in on a secret too. I almost always write the ending of my books really early on. I don’t do much plotting ahead of time and having an ending there gives me something to aim for. If you have an ending in mind now, but aren’t quite sure how to get to it, maybe you should try writing it. It might help you to find your way.

Happy writing!

X O’Abby

PS.  After 6 days my word count is sitting at around 11K.  How are you getting on?

#AtoZChallenge Zhush it Up! and May 2019 #PassOrPages Details

Zhush it Up!

Well, friends, we did it - we made it to the end of April! We here at Operation Awesome hope you’ve learned something from our posts this month, something that’ll help you zhush your writing, your outlook, your mental health, whatever it may be. 

Okay for real it's a real word. 

Sometimes also spelled zhoosh, what we’re talking about here is incrementally making things better with little adjustments. It’s a hard word to pin down, but I’m pretty sure I first heard it on Queer Eye. It's these types of adjustments that we focused on with our A to Z theme of the Writing Journey. So, to recap, here's a categorized list of our posts from this month:

Writing Tips

• Diverse Characters
• Languages and Lingo
• Open our Jewel Box of #WriteTips
• Sensitivity Readers
• Xesturgy

Mental Health

• Can You Relate?
• Hustle - Striking the Right Balance
• (How to Cope with Negative) Reviews
• Vacation from Your Writing

Craft

• Flash Fiction
• Genre
• Why Interview are about the Author, Not Just the Book
• Marginalized Writers
• Understanding #PassOrPages
• World Building
• Young Adult

Querying and Publishing

• Beta Readers vs Critique Partners
• Eight Pages or Less of Synopsis Writing
• Publishing Contracts
• (How to Write a) Query Letter

OA Interviews

• Amren
• J
• Karis
• Kate (The Sidewalk's Regrets)
• Nathaniel

Zhush is an ongoing process, and we hope you'll be able to find some ways to zhush up your writing. If you feel you're ready to take that to the next level, you're in luck, because the next round of Pass or Pages is coming up! Enter the contest here on our blog for a chance to get a critique on your query letter and first 250 words from agents who will either pass on your work or request pages. Either way, you'll get valuable feedback to help you continue that zhush!

So, without further ado, the genre for May 2019 Pass or Pages is...

Adult Historical Fiction

Here are the important dates for this round:

May 7th: Agent panel announcement
May 13th-17th: Entry window (via a form here on our blog)
May 27th-31st: Feedback reveals!

For a recap of the rules and links to previous rounds, click here. Best of luck, and thank you for following along with us this April!

Interested in joining the Operation Awesome team? Click here!

#AtoZchallenge Xesturgy

Yes, I know the dictionary defines xesturgy as polishing, as with stones, but in this case we’re looking at polishing your writing. Think of each word in your story as a stone, diamonds maybe, or rubies or opals, and imagine polishing each one until it shines.

Polishing is the last step for your manuscript before it’s ready to go out into the world. It’s also a very important step.

By the time you get to polishing, you should have already done the hard work, fixing plot holes, finding continuity errors, character inconsistencies and fixing any tense or grammar issues. Now it’s time to tighten things up to make them sing.

When I’m polishing, I like to look for overused words and replace or remove them where possible. Common culprits are words like ‘just’, ‘think’, ‘really’, ‘very’, ‘quite’, ‘that’, ‘as’, and ‘then’, but everyone has their own crutch words. Do your characters nod or shrug far more often than regular people? Change it up. Give them other actions.

Removing unnecessary adverbs will also strengthen your prose. If your characters are talking loudly or moving slowly, why not find stronger verbs to describe these things, like shouting or meandering? Also look for things that are obvious within the context. A character doesn’t need to sit down on the floor, just sit on the floor - the down is implied.

If you have a lot of dialogue in your text, check your dialogue tags. Said is the best tag because it tends to be virtually invisible to readers while words like ‘declared’ or ‘trumpeted’ draw attention to themselves. But even ‘said’ becomes noticeable when it’s overused, so if you have a lot of dialogue, try to get rid of some tags by using action to indicate who is speaking.

Eg. “My mother’s coming this weekend.” Jade rolled her eyes.

Dale returned the gesture. “I feel your pain.”

The other thing to check when polishing is your punctuation. Do you overuse certain things like exclamation marks, ellipses or semi-colons? Do you sprinkle commas liberally, but miss their proper placement every time? Reading aloud will help you find misplaced commas and other wonky punctuation because the rhythm will be off.

Reading aloud will also help you figure out if all your sentences tend to be of similar length and construction. To keep writing dynamic, you need sentences of differing lengths and styles. If you find you have a whole lot of really long ones, try chopping them up and making several shorter ones. This is especially useful in action scenes where shorter, punchier sentences create the feeling of action.

By the time you have done all these things, your manuscript should be shining like a diamond necklace.

What are your favourite tips for the xesturgy stage of your project?

#AtoZChallenge World Building

World Building

Hello friends! Our A-Z topic for today is world building. Rather than write another how-to guide (because let’s be honest, the internet is full of them…and I don’t want to write another how-to guide) I’m going to talk about the world building in one of my favorite fantasy series, the SEVEN REALMS series by Cinda Williams Chima.

         

SEVEN REALMS is a YA fantasy series of four books that take place in the Seven Realms (surprise), primarily the Queendom of the Fells. I often use this series as a reference for CPs who write fantasy because I think the world building is full, meaningful, and well-woven into the narrative. Also they’re awesome and I almost brought them to Europe with me but hardcover is heavy.

Classes

There are very clear differences between the lives the main characters experience. Raisa is a member of the royal family, and Han is a former gang member trying to straighten up. The river that runs through the city is highly polluted, a source of tension for Han and something Raisa doesn’t really need to worry about. Han struggles to get medicine for his family when they get sick, but Raisa has the best healers in the realm at her beck and call. Raisa is aloof to the issues her people face on a daily basis, things Han has to deal with or die. When she attempts to fix some of these issues, she’s met with real pushback from people who’d rather see the status quo stay the same.

Even with the obvious disparity between Raisa and Han, there are public works and efforts made to assist those in the lower parts of society. Basic education – reading, writing, history, etc. – is free and open to all. More focused studies can be undertaken at academies, although those require payment of tuition and may not be available to everyone. Ultimately these things act as beacons of hope for the characters at the lowest levels of society, which is something a ruler needs to prevent total breakdown of society. It sounds cynical, but it’s true – and it plays a major role in the plot. Keep in mind that, in a fantasy world, there are hundreds or thousands of civilians and only a dozen members of the royal family, conditions that are ripe for rebellion of the situation calls for it.

Factions

When I was fourteen, I went to a writing seminar Chima held and she gave me the best writing advice I've ever received: Every character should have a goal. This is clear in the way the various factions in SEVEN REALMS interact. Wizards, clans, military, royals, gang members, students, people who straddle the line between groups - there are so many factions, and they're all at odds. Balancing a great deal of goals is a difficult task. Sometimes, you can find a temporary common ground and forge an uneasy truce between warring groups. Those are the best opportunities for back-stabbery (muahaha). Make a clear outline or list of what each character wants, and what their faction wants. When those things are at odds, it creates excellent internal conflict.

Magic

The magic system in SEVEN REALMS is, in my opinion, exceptional. Magic is inborn, passed down through magical lines of heritage. All wizards have a magical “aura,” a sort of glow that can be seen and identified by other wizards, but not by non-wizards. This aura is the magic being exuded by the wizard; if the wizard does not store the magic in an amulet, it can overwhelm them. Amulets store a limited amount of magic and gradually fade in power over time, requiring the wizards to return to the clans for their amulets to be recharged.

Spells require study to master. The difficulty of a spell – whether it’s the distance at which it’s cast or the amount of work it does – determines how much magic it requires. A wizard who completely drains their amulet and the magic in their person can find themselves incredibly weakened, possibly to the point of being unable to stand. In addition to wizards’ magic, there’s also “green magic,” which is centered around the earth and living things. It’s not as powerful, but it can still accomplish many things. These limitations make the magic seem real.

Having a magic system with well-defined limitations sets the stage for conflict, whether it’s between characters or between characters and the magic system itself. There will always be those who want to test the limits of magic, like Voldemort or Morgoth, which can introduce a great source of tension and mystery. Defining your magic system also makes sure that your characters don’t become gods who can magic themselves out of any sticky situation, bring someone back from the dead, or change time. Without limits, magic becomes a game where anything goes.

Weather

I’m including this because it’s something I often forget about in my writing. In SEVEN REALMS, the characters have to contend with harsh weather like the snow and bitter cold of mountain passes, or rain that echoes so loudly on the roof you can’t hear yourself think. The first book even starts with a mountain fire. Not every day has to be that dramatic, but consider how much weather affects your daily life – it’s probably more than you’d think. How many times have you brought an umbrella, only to not need it? Weather and climate should carry the same weight for your characters.

Trust

The later books get into a mess of political dealings. Han and Raisa struggle to balance allegiances, debt, assassination attempts, and a lot more. I mention this because so often, I see characters who have stabbed one another in the back and then a few pages later turn around and become best friends again. Characters in these books take time to rebuild those relationships. They need proof of loyalty before trust can be given again, which for some characters takes the span of an entire book. Keep this in mind when characters break one another's trust. You can't just pick up the broken pieces and put the glass back together again.

Things are just…real

Same-sex relationships aren’t unusual. One of the characters is a teenage single mom. Characters deal with the difficulties of being biracial. There are characters with physical disabilities. I’m not saying all of these characters are represented perfectly – I certainly can’t speak for all of them – but the fact that they’re there speaks to the diversity of the world and the realness of the people, and ultimately that speaks to me.

Thank you for reading my fangirl thesis, I'll be here all week.

#AtoZchallenge Vacation from Your Writing

Vacation from Your Writing

Is it a good idea or a bad one to take a vacation from your writing? Some experts say that you should write every day. Even if it's just one line! That's not exactly what I'm talking about here.

Sometimes you're working on a manuscript. It seems done. Maybe. Maybe that scene in chapter five needs to be redone. Maybe that one character should be a different gender. Why do none of the characters have green hair? Is there enough diversity? That scar on the cheek, is it a cliché? 

That's when I suggest a vacation. Just back it up using two different methods and step away.

Go write a poem. Edit another project. Work on your social media following. Just go do something else for a month. Leave yourself post-it notes or .txt files if you must. But don't open that manuscript.

Once the 30 days have passed, then reread everything. Better yet, have someone read it to you. (Or use a text-to-speech like wordcounter.net.) You can take notes during the reading, but don't edit yet. Wait one more day. Get one more sleep cycle in. Let your brain process. Then make a copy of the manuscript and change the font to something drastically different. It is proven that you'll edit better with a different font.

Thanks to Addi Jones for finding this meme for me again.

Then resume working on it. It's the same with making big pieces of meat. Heat, rest, carve, then eat. You have to let them set before you cut into them. It's ruined otherwise. (For the vegetarians: it's as important as athletes taking a rest day between training sessions.)

Open our Jewel Box of #WriteTips for the #atozchallenge and #wep

The Operation Awesome Team presents a different kind of jewel box for you to OPEN.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/jewel : "thing that is treasured, esteemed, or indispensable."

Writing knowledge is the jewels in our box at OA. So here's a #WriteTip from each of us!

J: #WriteTip When publishing on Amazon, be sure to link your ebook and print book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1090907575 That's my print version. It ends with my ISBN-10 number.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Book-Reviews-Author-Inspiration-ebook/dp/B07MYDYDZX That's my ebook version. It ends with my ASIN number. 
Amazon will send an email saying: "links to its Kindle eBook version may take up to 48 hours." But if two days have passed and it hasn't automatically linked, here's what to do: 
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200652220 Go there and CONTACT AMAZON. Not only does having them linked look more professional, it also increases sales. People who prefer one or the other will not go looking elsewhere for your other version. They expect it to be linked because that's how it is for all the other books. 
.

Karis: #WriteTip Here's what I all but screamed at my roommate recently, when she told me she didn't tell people she was a writer and struggled to think of herself as one because she hadn't been writing a lot lately. And what I told her, what I have been trying to remind myself, what I want to remind every writer out there who struggles with self-doubt and sometimes feels like they're not working hard enough, not working enough in general, is that you are always a writer. You are a writer because you write. You are a writer because storytelling through the written word lives in your veins, powers you forward, keeps you going when you don't know otherwise how you'll move on.
You are a writer because it's who you are, what you are. Whether you write daily or take a 10-year (or longer) gap. You. Are. A. Writer. 

Nathaniel: #WriteTip This isn't exactly practical advice on craft, but please remember to keep your writing life psychologically healthy. Treat writing as a mini-vacation as opposed to stressing yourself out about word count or grammar. Write something that you're truly passionate about and run with it for as far as the rough draft takes you. Listen to your characters and build the universe they live in to make yourself happy, setting a time for this each day if you can. 

But there's a catch to this. 

Recently, there has been a lot of tension in the online writing community as of late, particularly in the YA sphere. The most important part of keeping yourself mentally well when writing is accepting the fact that your work is not going to be loved by all. There has not been a book in the history of the world that has been universally loved. My favorite book is "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, and the Goodreads reviews are mixed to say the least. I suggest that you look up your favorite book on Goodreads and read the one and two star reviews just to solidify the idea that even a work that you deem the magnum opus of a genius can be disliked by others. 

Write what you love, do your research, take constructive feedback into consideration...but make sure you don't forget to accept that you can't please everyone. That is the best advice I can give you.

Kate: #WriteTip The best piece of writing advice I ever got was to always break the story down into three questions.  Who is the character?  What do they want?  Why can't they have it?  If you can answer those three, you probably have a story.  If you can do it for every character in your book, you might have a novel.

Amren: #WriteTip I'm going to tell you the best piece of writing advice I ever got: "Every character should have a goal." Freaking changed my life. Every character, no matter how small their role, shouldn't just be in your manuscript to fill a void. Think about it: everyone breezing in and out of your life has their own individual goals; why shouldn't the characters that fade in and out of your main character's bubble? You don't have to outright say what that goal is, but it should inform the way that character interacts with others. Make sure that your characters feel real!

Thanks for stopping by! Please tell us if you liked the tips.

#AtoZChallenge Languages and Lingo

Languages and Lingo

Wil je in een andere taal schriven?

If you identify with either of those statements, this post is for you!

[Top: Do you want to write in another language? (Dutch)
Bottom: Perhaps you want to write in a fantasy language? (Elvish, English direct to Tengwar)]

Sometimes, we find ourselves wanting to write a story where another language is spoken. Maybe your main character grew up in a bilingual household, or they’ve studied another language in school. Maybe you want to add some slang. Maybe you’re going full Tolkien and developing a series of languages for your characters to use. Whether it’s a modern language or a full-fledged lexicon created specifically for your work, there’s one big question to answer: How will readers know what they’re reading?

Here’s a bad example. I read a contemporary book once that included text in two non-English languages (let’s pretend it was Swedish and Korean). However, the author rarely translated the non-English text, and a lot of it was necessary for understanding the plot. I’m lucky enough to understand Swedish and I have a friend who could translate the Romanized Korean and give some culture notes. Anything I didn’t get, or if my friend wasn’t free, I had to use the internet. As a reader, I was frustrated. How was anyone supposed to read this book without being glued to Google Translate? There was an entire page in Swedish and it was all written out as if the main character knew what was being said, but she didn’t understand Swedish! It didn’t make any sense to me.

Anyway. The point is, I was so distracted by all of the languages being spoken that I couldn’t focus on the plot. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to incorporate other languages into your writing without alienating your readers.

Disclaimer: This post assumes that the main language being written in is English, although this advice also applies to any work where additional languages are used.

Glossaries

One way to clue your readers in to unknown vocab is to include a glossary. Two books stand out in my memory for their use of glossaries: THE CARBON DIARIES and ERAGON.

THE CARBON DIARIES, a diary of a fictional girl set in a world impacted by climate change, makes use of a lot of slang made up specifically for this book. Because it’s written in diary format, it would break the immersion for the main character to explain to herself what these words mean; they’re as normal to her as our common daily slang is to us. This includes words like chiller and cooler, which are slang for carbon credits. The glossary makes it easy for the reader to flip to the back of the book, find out what these words mean, and carry on.

ERAGON, on the other hand, is a high fantasy novel for which the writer invented a language. Most of the words are explained as they’re used, but after that, the reader is on their own to remember or reference the glossary. Use of fantasy languages should almost always coincide with a glossary for ease of reading. As much as we wish readers’ sole attention was on our work, writers can’t expect their readers to remember every new word as they go.

Be careful not to rely too much on your glossary, though. You want the reader to read, and not have to flip back and forth to understand what you wrote. I spoke with my dear friend Cinda Williams Chima (just kidding, I tweeted at her and she responded, I'm not actually friends with her) about her YA fantasy series, in which she based her "thieves' slang" on a dictionary of thieves' cant from England in the 16th-18th centuries. I asked whether she considered using a glossary, but she didn't think readers would realistically want to read a glossary. So, consider your audience. Do they have the patience for reference material?

Gloss Over

Another option is to gloss over foreign languages entirely. (See what I did there? Glossary, gloss…? I’m not funny.) If your main character doesn’t understand the language being spoken, you might write something like this:

Koen drew back and cradled his glass against his chest, jabbering in Dutch and waving away my bottle of beer.

Although the character doesn't know what Koen is saying, they can get the idea: He doesn’t want my beer. Just like in real life, body language can convey a meaning even when the character doesn’t understand the language being spoken. The character can recognize the language or not, it's up to you. This can create all sorts of comedic or tragic misunderstandings, so make sure to note just how much your characters infer.

Context 

This is a tricky one. Rather than explicitly translating what’s being said, you rely on the reader to figure it out:

“Everything will work out in the end, mèimei,” she said, reaching out to stroke my hair. 

You might not know what mèimei means, but you can probably guess that it’s a term of endearment or way to address the main character. If you’re going to use this technique, there are certain words in other languages that are generally known by the English-speaking world and safe to use: yes, no, please, thank you, words for family members like father or sister, among others. If a word is a cognate to an English word, it’s probably fine – but be wary of false cognates. For example, the Spanish word librería looks a lot like library, but it means bookstore.

These words are best used in small quantities so the reader isn’t left guessing too much. Sprinkled here and there, they give the impression of another language without having to do too much translating.

Just Say It

Then there’s the easiest of all:

“You mean you didn’t ask her?” Delia demanded in French.

Easy-peasy. Note when a character is not speaking English, and if/when they switch languages. Done.

Most importantly, if you’re writing in a language that you do not speak, or that you do not speak well, be sure to consult a native speaker or someone who speaks the language fluently. Google Translate can be a useful tool for standalone words, but it’s not perfect and can mangle full sentences. The last thing you want is to write something that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t mean what you think it means!

¡Buena suerte!