Holding on to your voice

I’m not a published novelist yet. Someday I will be, but until then I’m just a student, trying to learn as much about the writing business and craft as possible. But I think sometimes I do too much reading on how to get published rather than the actual writing that will get me there. Anymore I’ve gotten so focused on all the mechanics of it that I think I’ve been ignoring the actual art and craft.

And I guess I just randomly remembered something yesterday. There really are no new stories.

It’s one of those things you know, but it’s easy to forget when you pick up a writer like Patrick Rothfuss or Suzanne Collins. Such amazing writers! They have such a different style and voice and perspective that it makes you feel like you’re reading something new, when in actuality all you’re experiencing is their unique personality brought to life on a page.

And that’s what makes a story new or unique or refreshing. The author’s voice.

Nobody can write something like I can. Nobody can write something like you can. Because we’re different people. We’ve lived different lives and seen different things and experienced different events that have shaped the way we look at the world. And the key is learning how to capture that individuality and work it into a manuscript.

The trouble with my own personal voice, though, is that it’s just a little unusual. But isn’t that good? Unusual voices stand out, don’t they? Well, I’m afraid mind stands out a bit too much.

But I think I’m done trying to correct it. Maybe it’s not wrong to begin with. Maybe it’s just not time yet.

And then I found this really interesting posting on agent Kristin Nelson’s Pub Rants blog. Her blog is a great resource to begin with, but this post was fascinating.

In any case, I’ve decided that I’m just going to stop picking at all the little details. Just because the silly manuscript hasn’t been accepted anywhere yet doesn’t mean it won’t ever be accepted. Maybe the rest of the world just needs to prepare itself for my strange, unique individuality. =)

In any case, I’ve got my voice. It took me long enough to find it, so I think I’ll hold on to it for a while. Maybe it’s a bad idea. Maybe not. Time will tell.

 

Exciting discovery at Dictionary.com

I had to look something up on Dictionary.com today and discovered their Word of the Day. I hadn’t seen it before! How neat!

Today’s word of the day is RUNIC.

 

runic\ROO-nik\ , adjective;

1.Having some secret or mysterious meaning.

2.Consisting of or set down in runes.

3.Referring to an interlaced form seen on ancient monuments, metalwork, etc., of the northern European peoples.

 

Isn’t that a cool word? Its origin is Old English, from rūn which means ”secret.”

And Dictionary.com is even good enough to list references where the word is used!

 

“And he dances, and he yells; keeping time, time, time, in a sort of runic rhyme.”

– Edgar Allan Poe, The Bells

“To that end, he hid the secret in this runic code.”

– James Rollins, Black Order: A Sigma Force Novel

 

Sweet! Well, I’m going to have to start paying closer attention to this. I’m always wanting to increase my vocabulary, and this might be a good way to do that.

Writing a killer plot synopsis is probably going to kill me

I truly despise writing plot synopses. They are the bane of my existence. Now, it’s not that I mind summarizing things. That part I enjoy. But a synopsis—like the kind that goes with a query to an agent—those drive me nuts. I’ve written them over and over and I can never capture the emotion behind a story. I think I get too caught up in the plot. Or I’m too easily entertained so the portions of a story I think are important aren’t actually essential.

Synopsis writing is an art form. And I understand the how behind it. But for some reason I can’t seem to translate that how into actual practice.

So this is going to be my focus for a while, teaching myself how to write synopses. The funny thing is that every writer I talk to hates them just as much as I do. Why is that? Is it because you have to strip your story (the precious creation you’ve nurtured since infancy) down to its bare bones? Well, maybe.

Honestly, I think writers so despise synopses because there are no solid rules on how to write them. You can read 12 rules on how to write synopses and take away 27 different ideas and methods when you’re finished. And as much as we deny it, writers need solid rules so we know how far we can bend the laws of grammar and style before we break them.

I’ve been reading blogs on synopsis writing and some agents really offer good ideas and links to a lot of materials. But no one really seems to agree on how many pages or how many words or how much time to devote to each portion of a story. That’s probably good, though, because every story (and every writer) is different. Everyone has his or her own voice, and that’s probably what agents/publishers are looking for. They don’t just want a book to sell; they want an author to sell.

Here is some of what kept me up way too late last night:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/04/sum-of-parts.html

http://fineprintlit.com/submission-guidelines/writing-a-proposal/

http://confessionsofawanderingheart.blogspot.com/2011/08/tips-on-evil-synopsis.html

I mean, obviously, the whole thing needs to be devoid of spelling and grammar errors. That’s a given. And again, obviously, if you can’t sum up your novel in 500 words, it’s probably too complicated (probably; not definitely).

So I should be able to sum up my story efficiently but still maintain enough punch to get people interested in it, shouldn’t I? So why is it so hard? I’ve chopped the crazy monster down to 86,000 words so summarizing it in 500 shouldn’t be difficult. Well . . . scratch that. It’s not difficult at all. But it’s not supposed to be just a summary. It’s a synopsis . . . attached to a query letter . . . being sent to an agent. And that’s what makes it complicated in my mind.

Thing is, it’s probably not complicated. It’s like everything else we are afraid of. We make it bigger and scarier than it actually is. Honestly, we just need to do it.

So . . . that’s my plan. I’m just going to do it. And we’ll see what happens.

Wait until your software finishes teething

Until I reach my goal of becoming a full-time published author, I pay the bills (and support my writing habit) with a full-time job is as a marketing copywriter for a German plumbing, heating and pipe-joining manufacturer and distributor. I work very closely with some folks who are actually from Germany, so as you can imagine, I hear a lot of German being spoken in the office.

One of the people I work the most closely with was actually born and raised in the Black Forest. Can you imagine? Wow. Just thinking about that leaves this Texas/Kansas girl speechless.

But this gal I work with often comes to me with questions about English. Her English is spectacular, though, so most of the time she doesn’t have anything to worry about. The hangups often come with idiom.

American English idiom is strange anyway but trying to force German idiom to translate into American idiom doesn’t work so well.

I got a real kick out of the latest one she asked me about.

In English, when a new system or process becomes available, we say we want to wait to implement it until all the bugs have been worked out. Right?

Well, in German, apparently, they say that the system is “teething.”

That is the literal translation. The word my friend gave me is: Kinderkrankheit. You can see a discussion about the term used in an IT sense on the LEO Dictionary Forum.

Now, remember, I don’t speak German (yet), so I’m totally relying on my friend on this one. But I just thought this was hilarious.

I may just adopt the phrase anyway, even though it makes no sense: “Yes, I’m waiting to upgrade to Windows 8 until it finishes teething.”

A few useful (mainly linguistic) web sites for writers

I thought I would post a blurb about some of the useful tools I’ve found since I started writing seriously. Some of these may seem commonsensical but what I’ve discovered is that what may seem like common sense to me is sometimes a new concept to someone else. So it never hurts to share.

The first best web site I end up using constantly is Dictionary.com. Isn’t that silly? But from there you have access to all kinds of different dictionaries, as well as an extensive thesaurus too. You can also see entries from the Oxford English Dictionary which fascinates me; etymology is often a great place to start when you’re building a fantasy/scifi culture.

I’m sad to admit it, but I also use Wikipedia a lot too. Granted, I always double check the information, but it’s a good place to start, especially if you’re writing on a topic a lot of people have studied about.

One of the novels I’m working on currently includes a lot of Japanese language and culture, so I dug around to find a good Japanese conversion site. And I’ve found a lot. But the ones I use most frequently are as follows:

Denshi Jisho

Kanji Converter

Google Translate

Denshi Jisho is the one I use most often because it has such a variety of options so you can make sure the word you’re using is in the right context. What it lacks is a pronunciation option. That’s what I use the Kanji Converter for. Plus, it’s a little more detailed as far as definitions go. Google Translate is fun because most of the time you can get an option to listen to the word being pronounced, but I’m not 100% certain that it always gives the best translations. So usually I end up cross referencing all three.

Another language variant I use is Hindi and Urdu. For Hindi, I pretty much exclusively use Shabdkosh. It also has Punjabi and some other variations. And the location of my Urdu/Farsi/Persian dictionary escapes me at the moment. I will try to look it up later.

Google Translate is also good for other language variants if you need help with names or just the general sound of a culture’s words.

Of course, I don’t speak any of these languages. The only languages I’m actually conversant in are English, Spanish and sign language (SEE, which many hearing impaired folks will tell you isn’t a  real language). Maybe someday I will, but for right now generally I just use these converters as a base to build other languages/cultures off of.

There’s a slough of baby name web sites too if you need help coming up with charater names. There are so many it’s not even worth listing them. But those are a great place to check if you’re looking for just the right name.

A web site for storytellers

This is an experiment for me. I have been blogging for years and years, and I have blogged consistently almost every day this year since January 1 on my AlwaysPeachy blog. But I’m going to try something different.

I’m going use this blog for usage notes and other things I learn about the publishing process as I attempt to get something published. I will include notes on writing contests I have entered (successfully or otherwise), as well as organizations I have been a member of and whether or not it was worth it.

Maybe I’ll catch somebody’s attention.

Maybe not. Either way, it’ll provide another outlet for me to put my thoughts down in cyberspace and maybe someone will stumble on here and find something that will help them.

So good luck to all you aspiring authors. The best advice I can offer you at this point in my career is be a storyteller first. Then, it won’t matter if you never get published. As a storyteller, if you finish one story, you’ll be a success, even if nobody ever reads it.