WIP Wednesdays: The Beauty of Critique Partners

My current WIP (work in progress) is a contemporary YA romance set in Texas. I started working on the outline and characters in July and began active writing in the beginning of August.

Current Word Count: ahh, the beauty of editing and revising! This time last week it was 20,000. As of this moment, it is 19,531 and I think it is a much tighter story with the cuts.

Little Hints: Did you know they have vanilla birthday-cake scented shampoo?

Soundtrack Song of the Week: I have a soundtrack that I made of songs that fit my story. I did this during the outline phase, and it actually took some time to do, but I am sooo glad I did! It is such a wonderful source of inspiration and really puts me in the mood to write.

Today's song: It's My Life/Confessions by the Glee Cast.

Writing or Editing Trick Used This Week That Worked Particularly Well:

Critique Partners!! First my wonderful husband went through my entire story twice and gave his suggestions on pacing and word choice and characterization. That took my story up a huge notch. THEN, Nancy, one of my friends from Houston's YA/MG writer's group, exchanged with me. We have had so much fun sending parts of our story back and forth and giving each other suggestions, feedback and advice. When I took her suggestions and made them my own, my story became so much better than I could have thought -- and I had been pretty happy with it as far as first drafts go anyway. THANK YOU NANCY!!

Personal High: Getting that first critique back from her and hearing her wonderful comments along with the constructive criticism. There was a lot of detail and it meant so much that she took the time to do that for me. Just as good was her gratitude for the time I took for her own story. I really love it--it's also a contemporary YA romance--and being a good CP is just as important to me as having one.

Personal Low: Worrying once I get this last set of revisions done on the first 70 pages of my story--which I have been working on for the past week and a half--that it will be hard to get back into the full swing of things with the story . . . but this revision time was needed as I've been working through two awesome books on editing from the library and they are do back lol.

Writing Goal For the Coming Week: Finish these revisions and get through two new chapters.

HAPPY WRITING!

TTTY: My First Date, Age 13

For this first installment of Tuesday's Tales of the Teenage Years, I thought I would start with an embarrassing moment that everyone can relate to -- the first date.

My first date really tops the charts of embarrassment. I was 13 years old and while I had gone to the movies in groups and went to parties, this was going to be my first actual alone, guy pays for everything type of date. And he was older than me -- 17. Great, right?

Well the first sign that the night might not go off as planned was that I woke up feeling sick. Not a cold, but like nauseated, stomach not feeling right, type of sick. But I was nothing if not determined. I would go on that date. I talked to the guy on the phone and he was sweet and concerned but I told him the same thing--nothing was going to keep me from going to the movies with him.

The next bad sign came when we went to pick him up. One of the reasons my parents allowed me to date someone so much older, besides the fact that he was in our church group, was that he didn't drive yet. So my mom and I picked him up in our mini-van and he came to sit with me in the back. He then proceeded to inform us that he had forgotten to put on his cologne, and pulled out his bottle of Polo. Now, up until this point, I had always thought this particular cologne smelled very good. And I think in small doses, it still does, but small doses was not what I was given. He uncapped the bottle and began to DOUSE himself in said cologne. Let me quickly say here how sweet this guy was and still is, for the record, but this was not his brightest moment. My mom discreetly opened the vents in the back, as the smell wafted towards the front. My stomach turned for the first time.

We made it back to my house and hung out for a bit, sitting close together on my sofa. Breathing in very very strong cologne on an already weak stomach. I have a picture from that sofa and my face was ghostly pale, even for me, which is saying something since I am Casper the friendly ghost already.

Not long after, we got up to walk to the movie. We were going to the dollar show which was right around the corner and one of my favorite things to do was to walk there, which is what we did. I think I only stopped once, but it may have been twice, as my stomach continued to turn. He asked in concern if I was sure I wanted to go, but again, I was determined for this to go well.  

Have you figured out yet what happens???

When we got to the theatre, we sat in the back. We were watching Look Who's Talking, Too. Yes, I am that old -- or that young, depending on your point of view. Anyhoo, sitting in an enclosed space like that, breathing in the cologne, my stomach got worse. I tried leaning away but the sweetheart thought I was playing some type of cat and mouse hard to get move, so he leaned in. I leaned further away, he leaned closer in. In my memory, I feel as though I was practically falling into the other seat but I am sure it wasn't that obvious, but then it happened. I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and told him in a frantic voice that I would be right back. I made it out to the trashcan right outside the movie door when I lost it. Threw up, complete with dry heaving for a few moments....

But that isn't even the best part!!!

The theatre next to ours let out RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT! I will never forget hearing the little kid's voice asking, "Mommy, is that girl okay??" Oh, the mortification!

My date followed shortly, and again let me say how wonderful he was. Total sweetheart and understanding, didn't react like any guy would ever react, or even how I would in that situation. He even wanted to go out again!!

Yes, I have had countless wonderful dates but they will never be able to wipe away the fond memories of the first.

How about you? Any fun first date memories to share???

Free Write Monday: Getting to know my characters

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!

Okay, now that THAT is out of the way, I thought I would quickly share how I got to know my characters for my current WIP.

It is a dual POV story, so I have two main characters. I went the most in-depth with these two, and each probably have about ten pages of information. I used Noah Lukeman's The Plot Thickens, 8 Ways To Bring Fiction To Life, along with some of my own ideas, to create their backstory, motivations, likes and dislikes, etc. This is also where I described their friends and family, who make up my minor characters. I gave them their own backstories on another sheet at this time, and decided things like hair and eye color, etc;

Then after I had decided what everyone looked like in my head, I got online and started looking for pictures. Not that my characters would fit these images to a "T", but I wanted to have a good representation to turn to when I needed inspiration. Once I decided on a person to "play" each character, I found 6 or 7 images of that actor/actress/model/singer that really showcased the personality of my character. I shrunk them all and lined up the images on a page.

Next came what their fashion sense was. I looked at various sites that showcased celebrity fashion, as well as stores that sold clothing that represented my characters, and saved those images, shrinking them down and lining those up under the other images.

Next, I went to Youtube for videos of the actors/actresses/models/singers that I chose to see them "come to life" and listened to interviews for any words or phrases that really seemed to jump out at me to help with characterization. These are my own characters and I have a good idea of how they talk, BUT by listening to these interviews (especially for the guys) I was able to come up with unique word choices that seemed to fit those characters in particular . . . it was actually very cool and exciting. I wrote some of these words and phrases down, along with ones that I had come up with in my outline, next to the pictures so at a glance I can be inspired when doing their dialogue.

Last was setting. I looked on real estate sites for my two main characters homes and bedrooms, places I could picture them hanging out in. These were shrunk down on the page under the other pictures.

Now, as I write, I have these sheets to look at before I start writing and whenever I start to get stuck. I have the huge packets for my two main characters and a general character sheet with a line of images for each character put on two pages that I can look at quickly. Seeing them next to each other really helps me to keep them straight and bring them to life in my imagination.

Not sure if this process would work for anyone else, but it works for me! Now, go enjoy your holiday!!!

Plans for this Blog of Mine. . .

** This is updated as I am adjusting my Tuesday schedule to be Truthful Tuesday (used to be TTTY). Description has been changed below**

I have been thinking about how I want to use this blog.

I have a homeschooling blog that I have been doing for about 2 years now (to varying degrees of consistency), so I don't need to put family business on here. I also need to give myself time to write there once we start our full schedule again.

I have been thinking of the blogs that I love and what it is I love about them. Kiersten Writes is a favorite of mine -- but I didn't start following her until I read a post where she shared a lot about her teen years and loves (like Saved By The Bell) :-)

I also love to read the blog entries by fellow writers that let me know how their current Work In Progress is going -- just not everyday.

I love reading about book reviews from these same authors. As writers, we look at books a little differently, and can pick out when an author does something particularly well. I value these recommendations more than any other.

I love reading about writing and editing tips, links to other sites that are helpful and other tidbits about the writing life as well.

SO, this is what I think I will be doing with this blog for the time being. Not only will it hopefully give a little bit of my personality, and keep things varied and fresh within the week, but it'll also let me know ahead of time what it is I should be writing . . . that way I don't have to think too much about it, ha!

Mondays -- Free Write. This is where I share writing and editing tips, links I have found on the web, any notes from any meetings I attend over the weekend, or even personal tidbits I want to share.

Tuesdays -- Truthful Tuesdays. This was gonna be Tuesday's Tales of the Teenage Years (TTTY) and I will still include these segments here, but this title is much more inclusive, don't you think? On Tuesdays I'll be sharing particularly honest, embarrassing, funny, sweet and momentous memories from my life or generally interesting tidbits About Me.

As for the teenage moments, I waffled for a moment on this--even though I know it is stories like this that really help you to identify with a writer--because these things could make good story fodder. But you know what? There's nothing new under the sun and not only are many of these things probably not unique to me, but even if they are, it doesn't mean I can't include them in future projects because I share them here. In fact, if I become world famous and someone sees a situation in a future book they read about on here, they can have a little insight into where it came from. It can make them feel special :-)

Wednesdays -- WIP Wednesdays. This is where I will answer a set list of questions about my current work in progress. Word Count. Little Hints. Any writing or editing trick I used that week that worked particularly well. Personal Highs of the Week. Personal Lows of the Week. Writing Goal for the Upcoming Week.

Thursdays -- Book Review Day. I LOVE Reading YA. Since April, I have averaged about a book a day . . . That's a lot of books! I will share here some of my favorites that I have read or am reading and why I recommend them.

Fridays -- I will use this day to write on my homeschool blog, but will include a link to the post here for anyone who wants to follow that journey as well.

Saturday and Sunday -- Sleeping, Eating, Rejuvenating. See you on Monday!

I hope this format will allow me to be more consistent on here then I was on my homeschooling blog -- knowing what to write each day does help things.

ALSO, lovely tiny readership, let me know if you would like to join me for any of these days! We can do one of those "Mr. Linky" things and can link to each others posts on our blogs. Might make it a bit more fun!

Have a wonderful weekend, y'all :-)

One Favorite Editing Trick

Totally don't know if everyone does this already or not, but I did something fun this weekend that really brought my manuscript to life.

I went through the document, using the handy dandy binocular/find thingy, and put all my diallgue in a Word Document.

Next, I sorted it by character and color coded it.

Then I studied each one. This was a kinda involved process, but by doing so, I was able to clearly see if each character had their own feel, catch phrases, and sounded unique.

I even learned one of my characters had a southern accent, ha! That totally changed her whole characterization and really made her pop.

Last, I took out my handy dandy character sketch sheet--I will post about that soon--and wrote down any favorite phrases or words that fit them. Now, at a quick glance, I can use their picture and a bunch of tailored phrases for inspiration.

Hey, it works for me!

What about you? Any favorite writing or self-editing tips? I'd love to hear them!