Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
By Belynda, April 12th, 2009 in Writing | No Comments
Tags: funny desserts, mania, query, Script Frenzy, top secret project, Writing
Hey Everyone!
I know. It’s been a little while. Between running the Boston chapter of Script Frenzy with my buddy Marion and working on the query, there hasn’t been a lot of action on the blog lately.
(Rest assured, Ed and I have been working on a top-secret plan (not so top-secret if you’re a Frenzy) and you’ll be seeing new videos very soon!)
In the meantime, I’d like to share the fruits of my query-writing labor. After some intense editing, re-editing, crumpling of paper and drinking of caramel lattes, the polished version of my pitch for CROSSING THE CLOUDS is now available for your perusal. The original can be seen in my previous post,“Red Pen Rampage”. It’s pretty different.
My Twitter folks have been hearing me pipe about it a little today, and yes in fact I did celebrate it by enjoying a very unorthodox dinner . It was pretty awesome.
So, without further ado, my finished pitch:
Cora Caffrey’s wedding was over before it began.
When her fiancé Christopher stands her up at the altar, she is left with no apartment, no explanation, and no idea what she should do next. Best friend Kate’s suggestion of an “Un-eymoon” makes as much sense as anything, and Cora finds herself booking a flight to the tiny village of Sevenoaks, England.
The last thing she ever expected was to find someone new. When Cora meets Alex- Kate’s bookishly handsome best mate- her three-week escape becomes something much more, and the unlikely couple soon becomes inseparable. It’s like a Hollywood romance- until reality pays a visit from across the pond. Cora learns she is pregnant, a parting gift from the man who broke her heart. When Alex initially pulls away, it seems their expatriate romance might come to an end.
Instead, determined to stay by her side, Alex takes a leap of faith and suggests the only plan that can keep the pair together.
“Marry me and stay.”
If only it could be so easy as saying “I do”. To be a British subject, the baby must have a British parent. In order to have what they most desire, Cora and Alex must invent a new history for themselves, and protect the most important secret of their lives.
Keeping their secret from the Registry Office is one thing; Keeping it from Christopher will be quite another.
What do you think? Sound off!
By Belynda, March 26th, 2009 in Writing | 4 Comments
Tags: agent, excited, Fiction, nervous, Novel, query, Writing
Hey Everyone,
My Twitter followers have been listening to me giggle about finishing the final edits on my first novel, “Crossing Clouds” this week. Hooray!
Now, it’s time to write the query letter, and I’d love your input!
I’ve been thinking about my pitch for quite some time, but crossing the finish line on this past round of edits has definitely brought it to the forefront. Now I’d love to hear what YOU, my beloved readers, have to say about my pitch!
Love it? Bored? Have suggestions to make it stronger? I want to get your gut reactions, so get out the red pen!
Thanks a million!
Alone in the back of a limo on her wedding day, Cora Caffrey’s first love suddenly becomes a man from her past; her groom-to-be, Christopher, has left a letter at the church, and walked away.
Desperate to escape the well-meaning advice and sympathetic looks in the aftermath of that day, Cora astonishes everyone—herself included— and boards a plane for the village of Sevenoaks, England. The weeks pass, and soon it is clear that the brief reprieve from life in Connecticut has become something very different.
Cora is enchanted by life in the small village, and the longer she stays, the harder it becomes to part with it. Then, a misplaced wallet leads her to the doorstep of Alex Bishop, and her reluctance to return home blossoms into a desire to make a new one. But when Cora’s past visits her in the form of two little pink lines, everything about the burgeoning romance changes.
“Crossing Clouds” is a story about family. It is about discovering our desires, and the virtues we will abandon in their pursuit. The manuscript is complete at 79,000 words and is available for your review upon request.
By Belynda, March 23rd, 2009 in Writing | No Comments
Tags: editing, manuscript, query letter, text-to-speech, word lists, Writing
Everyone has words that become mainstays of their vocabulary. There are pet lists of “crutch words” available online that you can search for which weaken your prose. (“That” is a big one. A good three times out of four, you can eliminate “that” from a sentence because it’s implied.) After you’ve gone through those common “weak” words, go the extra step: Identify YOUR crutch words.
For some reason, mine is “little”; I realized that it comes up a lot in my writing, like “A little shop”, “a little tired”, “a little thing”. So I started to notice it, and did a global search. What did I find? Ugh…
Two-hundred and forty three “little” crutches in my work.
“How the heck did that happen?!” I said to myself. It happened the same way it happens in conversation. We tend to revert to certain phrases, words, or tones of speaking that help define us from the 6 billion OTHER people yammering on all over the planet. This “flavor language” makes us interesting, funny, identifiable from the rest of the crowd- whatever. But in your writing, your characters won’t all speak with the same “verbal mannerisms” that you do, or at least they shouldn’t. They are their own people, after all.
So, how do you identify words that crop up more than others, sneak into descriptions, or become a crutch for your imagery? The short answer is: Read. Read your work. Read it more than once. After you’ve read it? Yeah, you know what I’m going to say: Read it again. I’ll be the first to admit that reading your full-length manuscript after the initial hammer-fest, and then sober first-draft edits is a labor of love- I’ve been editing my book in some shape or form since this past August- but it’s worth it. It should be your priority to make certain your prose is as diverse as the world have created. It will show.
Besides reading? Listen. I know, you’re about to say “What am I supposed to do, read my 350-some-odd page novel to myself out loud?” No. But we live in the computer age. Most computers have seldom-used accessibility software (newer versions of MS-Word have a “Speech” option under the toolbars section), primarily intended for use by the vision-impaired. It’s a fabulous tool for actually hearing what your work sounds like (and what it will sound like in the head of a reader, who will catch every missed word and typo.) I’m writing this blog-post from 30,000 feet while flying home from a very exciting three days in Las Vegas, after which I’ll be using the 5-hour flight to listen to Alex read me “Crossing Clouds” so that I can pick out missed words, strange-sounding phrases, rough edges and the like. I’ve been through the first eight chapters already, and you would not believe the things you might miss with your eyes that will become clear as day when your computer-voice-of-choice is reading things to you. (The brain has this lovely habit of filling in gaps. Clever thing!) The best part is, you can make the changes on the fly as you listen along.
It’s a tough world out there for new writers and established authors alike. Every blog I’ve read has made some mention of publishing cutbacks, killed tours, and piles of queries littering the desks of agents and editors. This is all the more reason to identify the “little” weaknesses in your manuscript, fix them now, and send your absolute best and sharpest work out the door. It could well mean the difference between an enthusiastic full-manuscript request, and a polite “we’ll pass” letter in the mailbox.
By Belynda, March 11th, 2009 in Writing | 1 Comment
Tags: blog, bridesmaids, collective writing, flash fiction, Twitter
Blogosphere - Let’s Write A Story!
It’s been a long week, so let’s do something fun…
Let’s all write a story!
- I’ll post with the first line.
- On your blog, post the rules and the first line, and then add your line.
- Come back and leave your line in the comments of the previous line, with a link to your blog.
So… if I was playing, I would see on someone else’s blog post the story so far (perhaps with each line linking to the individual author’s post?) Then, I would post the previous story and a new line on my blog, and link back to the previous blog post in the comments to let that person know that I’d ‘grown’ the story from their line.
As everybody enters the story at different points, we’ll all have vastly different stories by the end, even if they’ve all started with the same line.
Does this sound incredibly confusing?
Think of it like “I’m going on a picnic,” where the picnic list grows by just one item with each person that goes on. But, instead of picnicing, we’re bringing the next line of a story. Or perhaps think of it as a “Choose Your Own Adventure,” but over the blogosphere.
Ready? Here’s the first line from Tracy’s Blog along with my next line:
“It could be worse,” my mother said, as she handed me the newspaper.
“And how exactly do you figure, Mother?” I sighed, casting a disdainful eye over the Page 9 headline that read “Up for Grabs: Bouquet Toss Scufflers Land in Court”.
By Belynda, January 27th, 2009 in Writing | 2 Comments
Tags: curmudgeonlyness, Eddie, family, Hemingway, tee-hee, Updike, Writing
Song stuck in my head at the moment… “Here It Goes Again” by OK Go
***
I’m sitting here editing while snarfing down a tuna melt, and I came across a funny note in the manuscript that I left for myself. I’m describing Alex’s mother, an earthy, salt-and-pepper woman in her 50’s, introduced with Cora’s first visit with the family.
The note says: “Hey Ed… Who’s this in real life? Tee hee!”
First off, no, I am not ashamed to “tee hee”. It’s the most natural thing in the world. Despite the rumors of my curmudgeonlyness, I tee-hee often. Get off my case.
The thought I had was this: It is often the case with fiction writing that the real world slips in and makes a home in the lines of your work. While some writers will try to wheedle out of this practice, I’ve found it’s easier to embrace it. People from my life always show up in my work. The woman described above? Eddie’s co-worker, who’s just the happiest, huggiest, most joyful person you could want to meet. When I think of Alex’s mum, how she would be, that’s who she is.
Even better, my favorite cameo in the book: The happy old woman on the boat in the flashback in Chapter 4? That’s Eddie’s Nonna, possibly the sweetest little lady who ever lived. She used to take my face in her hands and say “Thank you for making my grandson so happy” in this tiny little voice that sounded like it was full of a life well lived. When I thought of what a wonderful little old lady would sound like, it’s Nonna all the way.
The good news is this: It can be your little literary secret. Everyone has someone that fills that archetype in their head. I always use Hemingway as an example. One of his good friends was a bullfighter. Knowing that, read “The Sun Also Rises”. See what I mean?
If you write them well, you can enjoy seeing your own cast while you’re writing, and your fans will enjoy their own cast when they’re reading, and your work will be the better for it on all fronts. It’s a glorious little win-win.
***
On another note.. I would be remiss if I didn’t say a word on the passing of John Updike. Very rarely does an author come along who writes so much, earns so many accolades, wins not one but TWO Pulitzers, and passes off a Nobel Prize to a fictional character. The man has moved on, but the books remain…
