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Tag Archives: Writing process

How Kathy Writes a Book: Part 7…The End

11 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

critique partners, revisions, the end, thoughts, writing, Writing process

Thanks for following my story of how I write a book! It’s a complex process for everyone…and as unique as each person. Art is fantastic! Every path taken, every decision made different for everyone, and, yet, we all finish with a whole bunch of words strung together to make a story.

I have taken through my process from idea up to a first draft and into revisions.

After the first round of revisions, the writing becomes lather, rinse, and repeat. Revise. Revise. Revise. Until the words meld into a muddy mess, until I can’t see what I’m trying to do. Until all I do is push words around, meaningless pushing.

Then I send it to CPs (aka critique partners). I need others to see what I can’t. I need others to give me their reactions so I have an idea if the story is having the impact I want it to have. I need outside thoughts and comments that will spark my creative brain to solve any lingering problems, to fill any plot holes, to round out any characters, and make the manuscript shine.

So more revisions.

Then more CPs.

Then more revisions.

It’s a necessary cycle, one I can easily get lost in. Revise. Revise. Revise. Always something to change. Always a way to make it better.

Sometimes calling it done is the hardest part. Sometimes letting it go feels like the end of the world. At some point, I set it down. I accept that the words are as good as I can get them. What I have done is enough.

I wrote a book. THE END.

What a feeling!

How Kathy Writes a Book: Part 5…A Time Out

21 Monday May 2018

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

letting the manuscript sit, take a break, thoughts, writing, Writing process

Parts one through four have magically (okay not magically who am I kidding there was sweat, there was blood, there were tears…) produced a first draft.

TA-DA!

Now, what comes next?

Nothing.

I put that manuscript in time out. Was it bad? Well, no. But if my brain thinks about it any more, it will explode.

I have the luxury of this option. Some people on deadlines don’t, and maybe someday that will be me, but if I can manage it, I will always take a break after I finish the first draft. Always.

The longer the better, one month…two…six! Longer! I want to forget what I wrote. No thinking about it. No glancing at notes. No making notes. Nothing.

Going back to words that have been forgotten means: spotting things that make no sense, seeing the holes, sensing where scenes need to be added or deleted.

I critique for others. I work notes for all the ideas swirling in my brain. I write a short story. I read. I watch movies. I ENJOY EVERY MOMENT.

I am at this point right now.

Because I have goals of querying this manuscript later this year, I put Nowhere on a month long time out. THAT’S ALL? Yup. It will work.

While I forget all the words, I read one full manuscript and a partial of another for a couple wonderful people. Notes for the second book in this series have been started. A call for short horror stories caught my eye, so I am working on that.

What happens after this month is over? Come back and find out.

 

 

How Kathy Writes a Book…Part 2: The Notes

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

calendars, character development, notes, thoughts, world building, writing, Writing process

Writing is a solitary process. Everyone does it differently and ISN’T IT WONDERFUL!??!!?! How all writers sit and end up with so many words on the pages and no one approaches it or executes it the same. No one. Well, one thing is the same. The blood, sweat, and tears. So many tears.

So here’s my tale of how the stories magically (okay not really magic, like I said, there’s a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears) become stories. It’s fun to know how others do the wording. It can be helpful. It can be entertaining.

So last time on How Kathy Writes a Story, I shared the beginning of the process…the idea. How one tiny spark…an image, a sentence, a question…grows until it starts to scream in my head.

Then I move onto the next phase.

*cue dramatic orchestral music with lots of brass*

The notes.

The scribble-scrabble days or weeks or months of taking pen in hand and putting thoughts on paper. Yup. Paper.

Gimme all the notebooks. All the glorious blank pages full of possibilities.

I set out to neatly arrange my notes. A place for characters. A place for world building. A place for everything and everything in its…

Yeah, well, that lasts for about two seconds, then I let the mess happen. That’s how I work, in chaos.

I write whatever my mind tells me to write. My thoughts flicker from characters, to emotions, to the world, to bits of dialogue, to scenes…it’s a great ball of tangled string that I get the pleasure (really, me, pleasure?) of unwinding as I write.

ALL THE NOTES

Characters. What do they look like? What is their background? What do they like? What do they hate? What do they want? And for my main character…the character arc.  How do they grow and change during the story?

World. This can get complicated. I have created so many worlds…most for a series of three books. From fantasy to reality-based, the world is important and, for me, can be a character in itself. For fantasy, I design worlds based in a purely visual sense. I paint it in my head, making sure the colors and textures all play with each other. I add the people, the creatures, the flora. If it’s a fantasy world, I bring it to life with a history, religion (if any), government (if any). In both reality-based or fantasy, I need to know what the characters believe. I draw maps, of the worlds and towns and neighborhoods. I draw houses and jot down what color the rooms are, where the furniture is. I need the visual reference. Class schedules. Work schedules. There is so much to know.

The action. Any scenes that pop into my head, I write them down. Any snippets of dialogue are recorded. Pages of scenes, all needing to be put in place.

Any thoughts that come into my head are scratched onto a page.

All the thoughts.

All the things.

If I think it…I write it down.

That organization thing I pondered at the beginning gets completely lost. I rip out pages and shove them here and there to try and keep the illusion of organization. I keep important pages separate.

Though I do spend a lot of time going through those notes searching for that one thing I KNOW I WROTE DOWN SOMEWHERE WHERE IS IT…

But, hey, when you live in chaos, embrace it.

So where’s the outline? Yeah, nope. Outlines don’t live in chaos. I have a different method. The calendar. For reality based, this is easier with a calendar already in existence. Months, days…I know what happens when. I pencil in events that I know happen, leaving all sorts of blank days for all the things surprises to happen. For fantasy-based, this is harder. I have made up calendar years for worlds, but I have run into the problem that structured time just doesn’t work. In my Doors books, going from world to world makes it impossible to have a calendar.

Note writing is the most fun. Listening to the characters, asking them questions, dreaming up the whole thing is a happy place for me. Though most of it never makes it on the page, it makes the world better…deeper, stronger.

But, eventually, the note writing moment ends. I have to start writing. Do I know everything? Nope. But I know enough. Let the games begin.

To be continued…

 

Writing Process Blog Tour

29 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by Kathleen Palm in writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

new friends, pitchwars, revising, thoughts, Writing process, YA fantasy

The wonderful YA/ NA fiction writer Rhiann Wynn-Nolet has invited me to share the magic that is my writing process. Follow her on Twitter @RhiannWynnNolet. She’s a fellow artist turned writer! What could be better! Go visit her blog, http://rhiannwynnnoletblog.wordpress.com/ read her post and wave!

Ten years ago at the age of 31 with two toddlers, I asked my hubs for a laptop so I could write a book. Crazy! I know! So I did. And I had found my passion, the job I am meant to have. I have seven manuscripts sitting inside the twisted innards of my computer. First drafts, second… tenth drafts all waiting for their turn for a final read through, for their chance at entering the querying world. They have to wait their turns. I am a stay-at-home-mom of two kids. Now at 13 and 12, they need less and less from me, but I am still in charge of getting them everywhere, of conversing with them, and making sure they are emotionally okay.
My writing and the creative process has changed considerably in the ten years I have been setting words to page (or screen). As I grow as a writer, so it does. On to the questions!

What am I currently working on?

I am gearing up to tackle the final revision of my YA fantasy DOORS. I wrote this ms years and years ago when a simple idea entered my mind… what if you could go anywhere in the universe, what if there was a door. When I read the first chapter at my writers’ group years ago, it wasn’t right. So I set it aside, but I didn’t forget about it. So last year, I brought it out again thinking that I knew how to fix it. I read again at group. Almost… but through the comments I knew what to do. Revisions, revisions, CP comments, revisions, more readers’ comments, and revisions have lead me here to a final read through then off to pitchwars it goes.
I am also working on edits for my two stories that were chosen to be published in the Reuts anthology of twisted fairy tales.
I will also be writing a short story for Pen and Muse blog, who are calling for shorts featuring a haunted house. If that appeals to you, go sign up to participate. Should be FUN!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I dislike this question. Mostly because I’m afraid it isn’t different, that it won’t stand out again the piles of YA fantasy out there. But it won’t be like the others, because I wrote it, using my strange view of the world, my odd way of stringing words together, my fascination with everything weird and scary. Can my work co-exist happily beside the works of Neal Shusterman and Holly Black? Yes because I offer my unique view.

Why do I write what I write?

Because those are the stories that appear in my brain and in my heart. Because writing from a place of love is the only way to go. I write for teens (for kids) because they still believe, because they stare out at the world wondering where they fit, hoping to add their magic.

How does my writing process work?

Weeeeelllll, I am not a plotter. I tried outlines and they ended up frustrating me more than helping. I find now that a calendar works best. I draw a timeline and add the scenes, moving them when necessary.
My characters talk to me. I have notebooks full of people, of what they look like, what they love to do, how they think. I learned to call this a character bible at the Midwest Writers’ Workshop. Whenever I can’t remember so-and-so’s eye color, I can look it up. I will show them to you, but they end up a crumpled, scribbled mess. Writing is not neat and orderly here in the land of Kathy.

Then I write it from beginning to end.

I have to write the entire thing with no edits or I will get trapped forever editing and never finishing. Believe me, I get caught in the revising trap after its done, so I don’t need to fall in that pit too early.

I LOVE CPs! I LOVE comments! I LOVE making it better, solving the problems (even when it means pulling my hair out and beating my head against the wall). Relaxing, not dwelling on problems, taking a moment to do nothing will unlock all the answers. I do not believe in writers’ block. The more we try to pry open the box holding the answers, the more locks appear. So no worries, the answers will come when they will.

Now to pass the baton to a few friends.

I met Sarah Carson on Twitter, follow her @QueSeraSarah10. Uplifting and fabulous, she is always willing to help and even read Doors for me even though fantasy is not her cup of tea. In return I was honored to read her ms and was blown away. I can’t even wait for her words to find a home, to be published so everyone can read them. http://secarson.weebly.com/

I also met Kris Holt on Twitter, follow him @KrisHolt1. He is from far, far away across the ocean. *waves* Always willing to join in funny conversations and keep the laughs rolling, I want to know more about him so invited him. http://4thousandwords.blogspot.com/

I recently attended the Midwest Writers’ Workshop and met tons of people. I have invited a new friend from the conference to join me on this magical tour. Julie Artz, follow her @julieartz. I loved her business card… written on demand for any who wanted them! I should have thought of that. She was one of the many brave souls to pitch to an agent at the conference! http://www.terminalverbosity.com/
Go forth, dear readers, and follow the tour, get insights into how our minds work… it’s fascinating and a bit scary.

Sharing my search for magic in everything.

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Kathleen Palm, Author

Kathleen Palm, Author

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