Category: Magical Words

Magical Words: Revisions Revisited

Erin Penn Leave a comment

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Time to break out the red pen again. An edit is in the door and needs some work.

One of the things I will say, many times is – “this is just a suggestion.” or “It needs fixing, here is an example so you can see how I think it is wrong, but you are the author.”

David B. Coe paraphrased his editor in the Magical Words post from November 29, 2010, “Revisiting Revisions” with:

“You don’t have to use my wording,” he said with maddening equanimity, when I complained about some change he had made to a previous manuscript. “You’re the writer; I’m sure you can come up with something better.  I changed it because the original wording didn’t work.  It wasn’t clear, or it didn’t work with the rest of the scene.  I was just trying to draw your attention to it.”

And that is the horrific thing editors do. They point out what is wrong. Maddening cruel and loving essential, every red mark.

And it isn’t always “wrong – wrong”. It could be “not as good as you are capable of”. Sometimes I think that is the worse, because wrong is an easy fix – “make better” oh boy, that is going to take some effort.

This particular Magical Words is mostly a reminder for ME on how to be the best editor possible. Sometimes ruts happen. Tired happens. And people need to be reminded of best practices. This post by Dr. Coe is full of them.

Again, the URL is: https://www.magicalwords.net/david-b-coe/revisions-revisited/

Magical Words: Endings

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

When does a story end? At the climax, when all is revealed? Not usually.

Readers want cuddle time after a climax. Just a little longer between the covers, one more chapter to tie up lose ends, whisper sweet nothings, and leave everyone fully satisfied. If the happening is one of a series, book the next date by hinting what the next story is about before letting the reader leave the covers.

Kalayna Price gives two examples of poor endings in a Magical Word post from April 26, 2012 entitled “Endings”; in one, the story was bam-slam-thank-you-ma’am, and the other keep going-and-going long after the happy climax feeling was done. The comment section continues the endings discussion with various published writers giving examples from their own experience, definitely worth hanging around for breakfast to meet the whole family.

Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/kalayna-price/on-writing-endings/

Magical Words: Therefore

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

What path does a book follow? Is it one step after another, haphazardly finding its way to an conclusion, or is it driven down the inevitable street until it reaches the only ending possible?

Carrie Ryan write about plotting using “therefore” and “but” rather than “and then” in her Magical Words post from August 22, 2012, “Therefore”. The post gives a method to plot more strongly.

If you line up every scene or plot beat in your book, and the only words that connect them are “and then,” you have a problem; instead, each scene needs to be connected with either “therefore” or “but.”

Put simply, your book should go something like: “A therefore B therefore C but D therefore E but F.”  Rather than “A and then B and then C and then D…”

It sounds easy, but the point is to make things flow because they connect. The difference between all the cars on a road going the same direction, and a train with interconnected carts. If you disconnect a train, things fall apart. On the road, a car could take an exit and you might never notice it is now missing from the story.

Boy meets girl. (and then) Girl flirts with boy. (and then) Boy and girl argue. (and then) Boy and girl make up.

We all have read this story. But how about…

Boy meet girl. But girl flirts with best friend. Therefore boy and best friend argue. But girl doesn’t want to come between them and leave. Therefore the males must talk things out. Meanwhile, girl runs into trouble outside and screams. Therefore both males run outside to rescue her.  …

Now every scene escalates. The energy moves.

Ms. Ryan does mention

“Yeah, but I could just as easily replace each ‘therefore’ and ‘but’ with “and then,’” and you’d be right.  But that’s not the issue — the problem comes when you can’t replace an “and then” with a “therefore” or “but.”

Be aware of the connections of your plots, whether at the outlining, first draft, or editing stage. Make sure that every scene and plot beat, when you move from one car to the next is a “therefore/but” and not “and then” – you want a train car, not an automobile.

Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/really-i-mean-it/therefore/ (The post may not be there. It looks like they finally took the website down.)

Magical Words: Running and Writing

Erin Penn Leave a comment

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Going the distance writing in hard. Only these past couple years have I managed anything close to a long form. Part of my problem is I think of writing like running sprints, getting it done and over with as quickly as possible. Writing long form is a marathon.

I do marathon work all the time in my gigs – I count down the days for taxes, I count the packages for the post office, I record the number of words in a book to edit.

Christina Henry did a guest blog for Magical Words on October 24, 2014 on “of Running and Writing”, explaining how running a marathon helped her finally finish a novel. Instead of concentrating on the destination, she started working on the journey.

My biggest take away is

When you actually run the race you never think, “One mile down, 25 to go.” Instead you think,  “One more mile. One more mile.” And slowly but surely you get to the finish line

My personal problem with long-form is I do think “one mile down, 25 to go.” I accomplish so much more when I “write today, write today, write today”.

Maybe the post will inspire you for longer creative works. Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/christina-henry-of-running-and-writing/

Magical Words: Eight Ways to HOKWOP

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

It has been a while since I’ve talked about BIC – Butt in Chair, and HOC – Hands on Keyboard. One last part of this is WOP – Words on Page.

Lauren Harris, in a guest post on Magical Words on August 27, 2013, did a deep dive into “Eight Ways to HOCWOP”.

As she points out in the opening sentence, writing depends on one’s own discipline.

And after a day of work outside the house, and all the chores inside the house, finding the whip to get to a keyboard and CREATE, using up what little mental energy you have left, is a Herculean task. She came up with a list of very viable suggestions on how to type Words on Page. I’ve tried most of them over the years – some work for a time, others work in combo, and some just don’t work for me. But that is true of all writer advice, nothing is going to work for everyone.

The eight steps

  1. Clear your space
  2. Morning pages / Brain Dump / Journal
  3. Go Somewhere
  4. Write analog
  5. Find an accountability buddy
  6. Make a schedule
  7. Establish a trigger
  8. Set a timer.

She goes into detail about each of these, plus comments from experienced writers to the post can help a person figure out what is best to get BICHOKWOP.

Again the URL is: http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/eight-ways-to-hokwop/