Shawn Maravel's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Let the Editing Begin!
I have been going through and editing my newest book The Wanderer (working title). It is currently 69,758 words and I hope to break 70,000 by the time I'm done editing. My first goal was to just get the story down. With editing I hope to clean it up, cut off the fat (as my sister would say) and add a little bit of muscle ( my own creative twist).
The story is solid and I'm absolutely in love with it but there is always room for improvement! As I wrote it my sister and mom were reading it chapter by chapter giving advice and grammatical help. Now my husband is reading it which is important for a few reasons. He is in the Army and my story is about a retired Army vet. While his job is in aviation and my character, Landon, was a cavalry scout, my husband can provide me with help as far as Army lingo and accuracy goes. In fact he actually wrote the outline for a pivotal chapter in the story; a flashback to his Army combat days.
In addition to helping maintain military accuracy he is also helping me keep the character of Landon "purely male". As a female writer I look to his, at times brutally honest, opinion to make sure that I keep the characters believable. Writing in the male perspective can be hard at times and sometimes I fall short. He makes sure that he points out how to make it the whole distance in a believable voice.
You might think that having my husband and family provide help would be in fact unhelpful. Family is usually the one who tells the kids on American Idol who can't sing that in fact they can, and well enough to try out for public humiliation. That, in my family, is not the case. As I said, my husband is brutally honest. He is also not a big reader so he takes a long time to actually sit down and read it. This alone makes me question my writing, wondering how I can make it flow in a way that it will read much faster. The other day my husband read two chapters without realizing it. He was very surprised. I was relieved! He also usually says, "Oh my gosh, you totally screwed this up." at some point while reading (did I mention that he was born missing the subtle bone that most of us have in our bodies?). But this time he just read it to the end without a word. Now that for me is considered a real breakthrough in my writing!
Now, about half-way done with my editing I'm looking for ways to improve the story and it's flow. I'm far from done but I look forward to the final outcome!
The story is solid and I'm absolutely in love with it but there is always room for improvement! As I wrote it my sister and mom were reading it chapter by chapter giving advice and grammatical help. Now my husband is reading it which is important for a few reasons. He is in the Army and my story is about a retired Army vet. While his job is in aviation and my character, Landon, was a cavalry scout, my husband can provide me with help as far as Army lingo and accuracy goes. In fact he actually wrote the outline for a pivotal chapter in the story; a flashback to his Army combat days.
In addition to helping maintain military accuracy he is also helping me keep the character of Landon "purely male". As a female writer I look to his, at times brutally honest, opinion to make sure that I keep the characters believable. Writing in the male perspective can be hard at times and sometimes I fall short. He makes sure that he points out how to make it the whole distance in a believable voice.
You might think that having my husband and family provide help would be in fact unhelpful. Family is usually the one who tells the kids on American Idol who can't sing that in fact they can, and well enough to try out for public humiliation. That, in my family, is not the case. As I said, my husband is brutally honest. He is also not a big reader so he takes a long time to actually sit down and read it. This alone makes me question my writing, wondering how I can make it flow in a way that it will read much faster. The other day my husband read two chapters without realizing it. He was very surprised. I was relieved! He also usually says, "Oh my gosh, you totally screwed this up." at some point while reading (did I mention that he was born missing the subtle bone that most of us have in our bodies?). But this time he just read it to the end without a word. Now that for me is considered a real breakthrough in my writing!
Now, about half-way done with my editing I'm looking for ways to improve the story and it's flow. I'm far from done but I look forward to the final outcome!
Update
The past few months have been a definite struggle for me and it has been a great reminder of how much work and commitment goes into writing. After publishing The Wanderer about a year ago it took a while for me to pick up a new story. At first I tried to re-write my first ever novel, With Eyes That See. It was difficult to come to the realization that it wasn't the right time and it might never be the right time to publish that story. After that I took a stab at three other novels; reaching various states of completion. In one novel's case I had nearly reached the end.
It is very intimidating to pick up the task of writing a novel, given the fact that until you've completed it, you can't be truly certain that it will ever be published or completed. I've realized how much strength and dedication is required of a person to keep trying, pushing through the difficult times, and overcoming obstacles.
My latest project, a story which will be a companion to The Wanderer and the series joining the novels together, has been a blessing. It has reminded me what the absolute, unadulterated joy of writing is. I hope to release the novel within the next few months and in the time before its release, I will be filling you in on information regarding the novel including things like: the name of the series, book title, character introductions, excerpts, cover reveal, and more.
I also hope to reach out to bloggers and fellow authors for help in promotion. If you are reading this post and would like to participate in helping me spread the word about my latest novel when the time comes then please don't hesitate to contact me. I am happy to provide digital review copies and provide excerpts as well as cover images and other information for release and reveal posts.
It is very intimidating to pick up the task of writing a novel, given the fact that until you've completed it, you can't be truly certain that it will ever be published or completed. I've realized how much strength and dedication is required of a person to keep trying, pushing through the difficult times, and overcoming obstacles.
My latest project, a story which will be a companion to The Wanderer and the series joining the novels together, has been a blessing. It has reminded me what the absolute, unadulterated joy of writing is. I hope to release the novel within the next few months and in the time before its release, I will be filling you in on information regarding the novel including things like: the name of the series, book title, character introductions, excerpts, cover reveal, and more.
I also hope to reach out to bloggers and fellow authors for help in promotion. If you are reading this post and would like to participate in helping me spread the word about my latest novel when the time comes then please don't hesitate to contact me. I am happy to provide digital review copies and provide excerpts as well as cover images and other information for release and reveal posts.
Know Thy Neighbor: An Inside Look
Because Know Thy Neighbor will be published in...like a WEEK, I figured I'd share a little info about the book to hold ya'll over until then. ;)
A fun fact you may find interesting is that I essentially stole my lead characters from the original draft of Know Thy Neighbor for my second installment of the Rider series, Shifting Gears. I loved the names so much that I couldn't seem to part with them. Know Thy Neighbor had the threat of being one of those stories that I'd never get around to publishing, meanwhile I needed names for Shifting Gears so I swiped them. The end result is that I'm IN LOVE with the names I ended up with so there was no big loss. And as an added bonus I proved myself wrong and published a book I had at one point lost all hope of seeing to the end.
Whenever I'm writing action scenes I always get super nervous about how I'd portray them so I often enlist my husband, David to help me map it out. As with a flashback scene from The Wanderer, he essentially "designed" one of the action scenes towards the end of this novel and okayed it after I'd made additions and changed based on his suggestions. coincidentally my mom--who revises all of my work before publication--says that Know Thy Neighbor and The Wanderer are her two favorites of my novels. I'm wondering if I can attribute any of that success to David. ;)
I had originally started this book off thinking that it would have an underlined theme of Alice in Wonderland. I was even considering making Evangeline's character more "Alice-like" in looks and other traits. In the end I dropped the theme though a few details remain leftover. You might be interested to try and spot them. ;)
I had originally envisioned Alex Pettyfer as the male lead for this part but after about a year away from the story I came back to writing it and found that Liam Hemsworth was much better suited for the role I was writing for our male lead, the mysterious John Smith. I had also originally mentally cast Odette Yustman for the part of Evangeline but wanted to make her character a bit more spicy so I changed her locks to red and could much more easily see Emma Stone acting the part, though much less humor driven than most of us know her as.
Well, I guess that's all for now. I'm interested to hear any questions you may have about the novel and it's characters either after reading it or in anticipation. I hope you guys and gals enjoy reading Know Thy Neighbor as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
A fun fact you may find interesting is that I essentially stole my lead characters from the original draft of Know Thy Neighbor for my second installment of the Rider series, Shifting Gears. I loved the names so much that I couldn't seem to part with them. Know Thy Neighbor had the threat of being one of those stories that I'd never get around to publishing, meanwhile I needed names for Shifting Gears so I swiped them. The end result is that I'm IN LOVE with the names I ended up with so there was no big loss. And as an added bonus I proved myself wrong and published a book I had at one point lost all hope of seeing to the end.
Whenever I'm writing action scenes I always get super nervous about how I'd portray them so I often enlist my husband, David to help me map it out. As with a flashback scene from The Wanderer, he essentially "designed" one of the action scenes towards the end of this novel and okayed it after I'd made additions and changed based on his suggestions. coincidentally my mom--who revises all of my work before publication--says that Know Thy Neighbor and The Wanderer are her two favorites of my novels. I'm wondering if I can attribute any of that success to David. ;)
I had originally started this book off thinking that it would have an underlined theme of Alice in Wonderland. I was even considering making Evangeline's character more "Alice-like" in looks and other traits. In the end I dropped the theme though a few details remain leftover. You might be interested to try and spot them. ;)
I had originally envisioned Alex Pettyfer as the male lead for this part but after about a year away from the story I came back to writing it and found that Liam Hemsworth was much better suited for the role I was writing for our male lead, the mysterious John Smith. I had also originally mentally cast Odette Yustman for the part of Evangeline but wanted to make her character a bit more spicy so I changed her locks to red and could much more easily see Emma Stone acting the part, though much less humor driven than most of us know her as.
Well, I guess that's all for now. I'm interested to hear any questions you may have about the novel and it's characters either after reading it or in anticipation. I hope you guys and gals enjoy reading Know Thy Neighbor as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
New Adventures in the Writing World For This Girl!
Sooo, I've been working pretty hard on my latest writing project since my husband deployed in late April. And while it's not finished YET, I feel confident enough to tell you that shortly I'll have completed the first draft of my VERY FIRST screenplay!!!
I know that I'm a novel girl by trade, but I have always seen my third novel, The Wanderer as a "big screen" story. Who better to write the screenplay than the author herself! Whatever comes of this great journey, I'm happy to have expanded my horizons! What a FABULOUS experience this has been so far!
As any book to movie story goes, there will be some additions, some cuts, and some modifications in order for the story to flow better on screen. The thing is, I wrote The Wanderer, as mentioned before, as if it already was a movie playing out in my head so if you know the story and love it as is I doubt you'll be disappointed. In fact, I sort of wish a few of my favorite novels turned movies had been written by the authors for this very reason.
Screenwriters change up novels for a lot of different reasons when converting them. One reason being that they need to throw in their own creative flair. They need to make the story their own. Well, as the author, the story already is my own, and I love it how it is in its essence. So now I get to work on just perfecting it. And of course as I've been writing the screenplay I've been tortured to some degree by questions like, "Now why didn't I write this the first time around, it sounds so much better?!" But as any fellow writer knows or will tell you, the job of writing a story is never "complete". There simply comes a time, especially as a self-published or indie author ,where you just have to walk away. That's what Re-writes and new editions are for.
As for trying my hand at screenplay writing, it certainly is much different. I will most definitely have to go back and edit, edit, edit, before I even CONSIDER submitting it anywhere. The style of writing a screenplay is much more technical. Entirely technical in fact. There's really no "flair" in the bare bones of the story, it's all a matter of setting a scene and putting dialogue together. This has made the experience all the more interesting for me because it certainly is a challenge for me since I can be a bit wordy in my writing. It forces me to find ways to get out of the character's head and figure out how to convey the same story with the same inflections and mood/tone with only actions and dialogue.
What a great exercise this has been!
To those of you out there who have enjoyed any or all of my novels, don't worry! I am equally as exciting to get back into novel writing as well but when this opportunity presented itself I just had to go for it!
I'll be keeping you posted! Until then, Happy Reading!!!
I know that I'm a novel girl by trade, but I have always seen my third novel, The Wanderer as a "big screen" story. Who better to write the screenplay than the author herself! Whatever comes of this great journey, I'm happy to have expanded my horizons! What a FABULOUS experience this has been so far!
As any book to movie story goes, there will be some additions, some cuts, and some modifications in order for the story to flow better on screen. The thing is, I wrote The Wanderer, as mentioned before, as if it already was a movie playing out in my head so if you know the story and love it as is I doubt you'll be disappointed. In fact, I sort of wish a few of my favorite novels turned movies had been written by the authors for this very reason.
Screenwriters change up novels for a lot of different reasons when converting them. One reason being that they need to throw in their own creative flair. They need to make the story their own. Well, as the author, the story already is my own, and I love it how it is in its essence. So now I get to work on just perfecting it. And of course as I've been writing the screenplay I've been tortured to some degree by questions like, "Now why didn't I write this the first time around, it sounds so much better?!" But as any fellow writer knows or will tell you, the job of writing a story is never "complete". There simply comes a time, especially as a self-published or indie author ,where you just have to walk away. That's what Re-writes and new editions are for.
As for trying my hand at screenplay writing, it certainly is much different. I will most definitely have to go back and edit, edit, edit, before I even CONSIDER submitting it anywhere. The style of writing a screenplay is much more technical. Entirely technical in fact. There's really no "flair" in the bare bones of the story, it's all a matter of setting a scene and putting dialogue together. This has made the experience all the more interesting for me because it certainly is a challenge for me since I can be a bit wordy in my writing. It forces me to find ways to get out of the character's head and figure out how to convey the same story with the same inflections and mood/tone with only actions and dialogue.
What a great exercise this has been!
To those of you out there who have enjoyed any or all of my novels, don't worry! I am equally as exciting to get back into novel writing as well but when this opportunity presented itself I just had to go for it!
I'll be keeping you posted! Until then, Happy Reading!!!
