AURIA CORTES

I’m on a roll. I got so much writing done today that it’s scary (in a good way).

Tomorrow I think I will work on a proposal that is thisclose to completion. This is a book I want to write with my big sis.  The two of us sharing the spotlight on a book cover is an exciting proposition. 

Aside from that, I want to brainstorm other book ideas tomorrow. I want to work on a biography. I’ll conduct research on a few people I’m interested in (don’t know who yet). Does anyone pique your interest? When you read biographies who are you most attracted to (i.e. actors, musicians, politicians, famous for doing nothing people)? Once I have an idea, talk to my agent about it. 

As you may have noticed, I’m working more on my nonfiction stuff. After I finished the first draft of Mija, I needed to change gears. Though I have been working on a fiction outline here and there.

For those of you who don’t remember, Frey is the author of Million Little Pieces. A memoir selected for Oprah Book Club. Eventually the truth came out that Frey fabricated parts of his book. Oprah became upset and publically called him out on his deception on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

When I was writing my first book, this whole thing was going down. Though my book isn’t a memoir, it is me through and through because I’m offering my advice. And maybe for this reason I felt a kinship with Frey.

There were many things about the situation that left a bad taste in my mouth. Though I feel Frey contributed to his own situation, I always felt that he was ill advised by his agent and publisher.

Particulary, as Vanity Fair points out, Frey “on an “author’s questionnaire,” a memo used for marketing and publicity that authors fill out a few months prior to publication, he wrote, “I think of this book more a work of art or literature than I do a work of memoir or autobiography.”

Regardless, the book was marketed as a memoir by the publisher. That’s where the publisher went wrong. Once the book was published and before the allegations about the truthfulness of his memoir came to light, Frey stated his book was a honest, truthful account of events. That’s where he went wrong.

His new book, Bright Shiny Morning, recevied a $1.5 million advance and is set to be released in May. Frey was interviewed by Vanity Fair. It’s an interesting read.

The embedded video is of Nan Talese, Frey’s Million Little Pieces publisher, and her side of how events unfolded during the Oprah Winfrey Show.

As a writing coach, I read dozens of manuscripts each week by aspiring children’s writers. Most are very competent but in many cases, the readability of the text and the emotional impact of the story could be cranked up with just a bit of tweaking.

Here are my current top three tips ….

TIP 1:

Let the reader experience the character’s emotion directly.

Don’t just say: Lydia felt embarrassed. That leaves the reader with a bunch of words that convey pretty well … nothing. The reader needs to feel what Lydia is going through to become emotionally involved in the story. Dredge deep into your own personal experiences to find the right words. Genuine descriptions will feel real to the reader.

Okay … what do you do or feel when you’re embarrassed? You might feel a warm flush creep up your face. You might stare dumbly at your shoes or discover something important under your fingernail. You might force a laugh or put on a fake-cheerful smile.

Instead of telling the reader that Lydia felt embarrassed show her experiencing the embarrassment:

Lydia’s face grew warm. She busied herself with a loose thread on her jacket.

TIP 2:

Make friends with the delete button. Why? Because good writing is tight writing. I’ve lost track of the number of editors and agents I’ve heard lately saying: I want a great story written sparely.

What does this mean? It means you should say what you want to say using as few words as possible. This will force you to use only your sharpest images, your most engaging dialogue, your liveliest action.

Here’s a trick: Pretend that you have to fax your story to a publisher at $2.00 a word. You’ll quickly discover words, phrases, sentences and whole paragraphs that aren’t vital to the story. If you find your ms shrunk to half its original size – don’t panic, celebrate!! That means it’s more tightly written and has a livelier pace.

Here’s an example of pruning:

BEFORE:

Andrew noticed that there was a very big spider on his pillow.

AFTER:

An enormous spider sat on Andrew’s pillow.

This example reminds us of the impact created when you move the focal part of a sentence (in this case, the spider) to the beginning.

TIP 3:

Instead of beginning sentences with ‘He saw” or “She heard”, launch directly into the action. Here’s what I mean …

BEFORE:

Jemma saw Dad cooking muffins.

AFTER

Dad was cooking muffins.

If Jemma is your viewpoint character, the reader will instinctively know who is observing Dad. By talking about the main character (Jemma saw Dad …), you remind the reader that a narrator is at work, describing the scene from a distance.

Watch out for:

He/she saw …

He/she watched …

He/she noticed …

He/she looked at …

By avoiding these and describing the action directly, you strengthen the readers’ ability to imagine themselves in the role of the viewpoint character.

Happy editing!

Jill McDougall has published over a hundred books for children and is working on her next 100.

You can find more writing tips at Jill’s website www.jillmcdougall.com.au and download a free preview of her ebook: Become a Children’s Writer.

A couple of weeks ago I went on a blog that had Wordless Wednesday where the blogger simply posted pictures. I loved the idea and thought about incorporating it here. Then I lost my nerve and Erika inspired me to give it a shot.

So starting next week, I’ll have a new feature Wordless Wednesday. I’ll either post pictures I took or pictures others took. (Erika, maybe on your blog you can have Wordless Wednesday and that could be “our thing.” Anyone care to join us?)

 I promised Erika that I’d post pictures I took. Please don’t judge, I’m still in the learning stages.

One day I decided to take pictures of trees that resembles the woman’s body. The tree trunks serve as an inspiration for a collection of sketch paintings I’m creating.

Where was this video yesterday when I needed it?

The rain lightened up so I went to the store to buy a toaster because I was in the mood for toast. Instead of buying a toaster, I bought a convention oven. Please don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But at least I can toast some bread.

I then went to the supermarket, walked out with pineapple/coconut Haagen-Dazs and no bread to toast.

I ate the whole container of ice cream, but that’s not the sick part. My tongue gets numb after a few spoonfuls of ice cream so I can’t taste it after a while. So I downed 920 calories and I can’t feel my tongue.

Oh, the writer’s life. It’s not easy, my friends.

For the last two hours I haven’t accomplished anything. I want to. I do. But my eyes are tired and my brain is fried. By the end of last week, I knew burn out was creeping in. To avoid the possibility, this past weekend I didn’t write, work on my paint project (as I planned to do), or fiddle with my guitar.

Even though I did nothing, my mind was working overtime. Thinking about stories, book proposals, impressionist paintings, Spanish folklore, my business, and on and on. I don’t know how to shut off my brain. Usually I don’t mind, but there are times - like today - where I literally can’t see straight.

I’d go for a walk, but it’s raining. I’d go shopping, but that isn’t an activity I enjoy.

My stress relievers (reading, writing, painting, gutiar playing) are the cause of my stress.  What’s this poor little Puerto Rican chic to do? Please don’t suggest that I lay down and just relax. Relaxing stresses me the frakk out.