Tag: writing help

Posted in News

Blog Hopping for Nobody’s Goddess

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Thanks to the awesomeness of other authors, bloggers and book websites, I’m going to be stopping by a number of sites to promote NOBODY’S GODDESS over the next few months. Most of these will take place near my book’s release, but it started back in March. I was asked a lot of fun and challenging questions for interviews, so if you’re interested in NOBODY’S GODDESS and writing in general, check them out.

Author Crush Friday (Glitter Magazine)

Anime Meets YA (The Dragon Sisters)

Fresh Take (Fresh Fiction)

WOW Wednesday (Adventures in YA Publishing)

Wednesday Debut Interview (Operation Awesome)

Diversity in YA

Dear Teen Me

Write All Year Pep Talk (Patchwork Press)

Author Suzanne van Rooyen Interviews Me (Month9Books Blog)

Submission Hell, It’s True (Mindy McGinnis’ Blog)

 

 

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #14

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:  88,294 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3 (almost done with first edits)

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 88,537 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3 (first edits complete, sent off to beta, but I haven’t had a chance to go over her edits for the first few chapters yet)

WIP Issues This Month: Finding time to work on it, really. I did devote a few weeks to proofreading my friend’s book instead (while she worked on beta’ing mine and wrote another manuscript–she’s a busy bee!), but it was really hard for me to find time to edit at all, let alone write. I guess that’s good that I’ve been busy with work. (I’ve also been busy gearing up for NOBODY’S GODDESS promotions!)

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Working had on first edits is worth it–my beta reader noticed I’d improved on certain issues!

2. It can be hard to balance the time you spend on your writing with all the work and other stuff you need to do–even when you’re really trying to fit it all in. (*same lesson as last month, lol)

3. Promoting my book is fun but time-consuming.

4. I certainly take a lot of time off between writing manuscripts sometimes.

What distracted me this month while writing: Work and proofreading for a friend. Month9 put together a blog tour for NOBODY’S GODDESS that will start late next month and I made it into the Spring 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt in early April! Fellow WIP Marathoner Suzanne van Rooyen is even on the same team. (Team Gold!)

Goal for next month: I need to do edits to NEVER VEIL 3 as my beta reader’s suggestions come in, but she’s really busy, so we might not finish in April. I intend to do even more promotion for NOBODY’S GODDESS since it’s release month: April 21st! I still don’t feel up to going back to writing something new, unless opportunities come up. Right now my goal is to get back into writing this summer.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Check-In #5 (1)

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Check-in #5? What happened to 1-4? This is my first WIPMarathon Check-In for the December-January marathon because I didn’t write or edit a single word for my fiction projects in all of December, but I thought I’d number it to keep up with the rest of the people involved. December was busy for me with work, and I needed a break after being disappointed with my NaNoWriMo WIP. And the holidays. The month flew by, though, and now I’m going to try to get back to writing. I don’t think I’ll be as productive as I was in August or November, though.

Things I’m Glad I did in 2013: I finished my second completed manuscript (after burning out on an unfinished one in late 2012 and barely starting another in early 2013, I wasn’t sure I could do it again). I burned out on my NaNoWriMo one (which is still unfinished), but I’m glad I at least I got 50,000+ words done in another manuscript.

And I have news I’ve been wanting to share for months now, but I haven’t been able to. But it’s good news, writing-wise, that happened in 2013!

In 2014, I’d Love To Be/Do: I’m definitely finishing one manuscript, but I’d love to finish one or two more. Maybe tackle the two 50,000+ unfinished ones and figure out what went wrong. Also, I hope to go on submission (well, if the agent likes it and I don’t have to trash it ;-;) with the manuscript I finished in the August WIPMarathon this year. Edits come first, of course.

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount (+ scene count if you’re revising): 9591 words, 3 chapters. As you can see at my intro page, I had a lot of goals for this marathon despite not doing anything for the first half of it; it’s probably a bit premature, as I’m still waiting on feedback, but I wanted to work on goal #2, diving back into a YA fantasy I started over a year and a half ago. It probably won’t need to be a finished draft as soon as I once thought, though.

Current WC + CC (or SC): 14,947 words and 5 1/2 chapters

WIP Issues this week: I kept writing in present tense! I KNOW this is an issue and I correct it as I notice it and keep telling myself not to, but I keep writing in present. Wow. I’d only written in past tense before NaNoWriMo, and for that one, I felt it would be fun to try present tense and I think it suited the tone of the manuscript. It took me a short time to get used to writing in present then. I didn’t anticipate when I went back to writing in past AFTER A MONTH-LONG BREAK from the present-tense manuscript I’d subconsciously want to write in present still. Bizarre.

What I learned this week in writing: I’m having fun discovering the new nature of one of the characters in my WIP. Since the last time I wrote for him (about a year ago in edits, but I first wrote him two years ago during a first draft), something major happened in the story that would naturally change his character. I just didn’t realize how much so until I started writing him again. Interesting to discover, and definitely better this way!

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, shoveling endless snow, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Last 200 words: Can’t share due to spoilers.

Posted in Writing

NaNoWriMo Check-In #2

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I can’t believe it’s already the second check-in, and that NaNo’s halfway over! But I made it past 25,000 words, so I’m confident I’m on track.

Initial Wordcount + ChapterCount: 15,075 and 4 1/2 chapters

Current WC + CC: 26,137 and 7 1/2 chapters

WIP Issues this week: I’m a little afraid of the size of this WIP. It’s a contemporary and I meant it to be between 50,000 and 60,000 words in the end. But I’ve gone past 25,000 words, and I don’t think I’m halfway. (Not according to my outline, anyway, but I have gone off the outline more than once before making my way back to it.) We’ll see. I just don’t think reaching 50,000 this month will mean I’ve finished the first draft! I hope it’s not too much longer than that, though.

And I didn’t realize I’d written a good chunk more the first week than I did the second. That’s a bummer. But I’m still on track, so it’s cool.

What I learned this week in writing: Working on the novel just a little bit each day really does add up! That seems obvious, but previously, I’ve done my best writing in massive spurts, and those other projects I worked on just a little bit a time never seemed to go anywhere. I think it helps to aim for 1000-1500 words a day because if I just aim for a couple hundred it takes way longer and I’m more easily discouraged at the overall pace.

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, reading, errands–just my normal life.

Last 200 words: spoilers/removed

How’s it going for all of you so far? (Whether you’re participating officially or doing your own thing!)

Posted in Writing

NaNoWriMo Check-in #1

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I’m participating in my first NaNoWriMo officially! (You can find me here.) I really liked the format of the WIP Marathon I participated in during August, so I decided to check in every Friday with my thoughts on the week’s work by answering the same questions I did then.

Initial Wordcount + ChapterCount: 150 words (I just jotted down the opening couple of lines that popped into my head when I first came up with the idea a few months ago).

Current WC + CC: 15,075 and 4 1/2 chapters

WIP Issues this week: I haven’t quite fallen in love with the work yet, but I don’t dislike it much, either. (I haven’t stared at a blank page for overly long, which is nice!) This is my first stab at contemporary with nothing supernatural (I tried a YA contemporary suspense last year but that included mutations; I think that’s where it went wrong, actually, and if I ever figure out how to fix it, I’ll probably take out the fantasy part.) It’s my first NA, too. Mostly I’m attracted to the genre because I want to write about a new adult facing issues that aren’t that prevalent when still in high school, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull off anything but “sightly older YA.”

Also, this is my first time writing in present tense, and more than once I’ve accidentally switched to past. (But I fixed it really quick.)

What I learned this week in writing: Even when I do have the “pressure” of a deadline (well, what’s going to happen if I don’t get to 50,000 words this month? Nothing, really!) I can forge ahead and write. In fact, I think I do better with a little structure and a clear goal. I haven’t had many low count word days like I had with a few past manuscripts, so something’s working!

What distracted me this week while writing: Work, finishing Ace Attorney Dual Destinies (I’ve been waiting for a new AA game for YEARS), and reading.

Last 200 words: spoilers/removed

How’s it going for all of you so far? (Whether you’re participating officially or doing your own thing!)

Posted in News, Writing

My First NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Amy McNulty

2013-Participant-Facebook-Cover

Okay, so I’ve known about NaNoWriMo for years. In fact, I’ve used it and my friends’ participation as the motivator for a couple of unofficial spurts of writing over the years. Instead of signing up with a profile and seriously aiming for 50,000 words in a month, I set my own goal: write for at least 30 minutes a day in November. It worked for me. Of course, that was the manuscript that’s permanently retired and is a total mess (120,000 words and not even halfway done, ha), but it was also the manuscript I mined small passages and inspirations from to form my first completed manuscript, so it wasn’t for naught. Plus, just practicing writing was helpful.

I have written 50,000 words in under a month twice for both of my completed manuscripts. Once I finally got on the inspiration-train, they took off and poured out of me. But both those times weren’t in November or part of NaNoWriMo. Just feeling like I “have to” write 50,000 words in a month has kept me from participating before. (Not like the WIPMarathon, where you could set your own goal, no matter how big or small, whether writing or editing.) Because then I get depressed on those days where I don’t write enough words or I can’t write at all.

But I have a new WIP I’ve been thinking about since late August I’d like to get drafted somewhat soon. The past couple of months have been crazy, so all I have to show for it is one paragraph (I had the opening lines in my head right away) and about 2/3 of an outline. I meant to get to work sooner (although I’m taking a detour to write a fun short story), but I just haven’t been able to. So why not? I’ll do my best to finish the outline before November and make it my NaNoWriMo entry. (Sorry if I “break the rules” by having 150-ish words written before November begins, ha. I promise not to count myself as a “winner” unless I get 50,150+ words done.) I will NOT feel sad if I don’t get 50,000 words done. I will NOT force myself to work on Thanksgiving and every single day in the month. I’m just… writing.

So add me if you’re partcipating!

I actually wrote a pitch for the WIP while I was at it. That’s a first for me. (I don’t often share pitches online before I’ve even written anything!)

~removed~

Posted in Writing, Writing: Help

WIPMarathon Check-In #4

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: 72,956 words and 28 chapters (first draft completed)

Current WC + CC: 73,226 words and 28 chapters (still editing)

I surpassed my overall goal (“get as much of the first draft done as possible by the end of the month”), so yay. 😀 The marathon has been motivating and a lot of fun to participate in. When I started writing this one in early July, I really didn’t feel like I could finish before the end of the year. Earlier this month I became more determined to finish, but I still thought it would take me another few months. So this was beyond awesome.

WIP Issues this week: Despite totally kicking my goal’s butt this month, I actually barely scratched the surface of the goals I set for myself for this week once I’d finished the draft: Edit it all–just a typo-check and minor continuity changes at this stage–AND write the outline for my next project, the shiny new idea that came to me last week. I didn’t get as far with editing as I’d like, mostly because I was busy, and I didn’t even start the outline.

A good thing, though, because the outline for the shiny new idea continues to evolve in my head. It’s important it evolves and becomes something a little different because it’s dangerously close to some been-there, read-that vibes from other books, I think. It’s how I execute it that I hope sets it apart and makes it worthwhile. (It’ll be my first attempt at a straight-up contemporary, no supernatural involved, so that’s why I was unsure I could make it unique enough. Also… I’m actually going for NA instead of YA this time, which I never thought I’d do.)

What I learned this week in writing: I can actually miss writing/editing on days I’m stuck doing work writing instead. ;-; (I’m usually so tired of staring at a computer screen on those days I don’t miss it.)

What distracted me this week while writing: Work. I also beta read 20 chapters of someone else’s work, which was a pleasant distraction. 😀

Plan after the marathon: Finish the first edits, do the beta process, hopefully get it off to my agent, and meanwhile also outline the next project and dive into it soon!

Last 200 words: I can’t share the last 200 written or edited due to spoilers, but I guess I’ve steeled myself and am ready to share the very first 200 words of the book if you guys want to see it.

I’d lived only five winters the first time I saw an infant drowned.

I felt Father’s hand on my shoulder as the horse jostled us slightly, shaking her head and whipping the tips of her silky black mane across my eyes. Father noticed the instinct that took over, the mere moment my eyelids closed despite the how hard I’d fought to keep them open. “Watch, Rohesia. Burn the moment into your mind.”

The shrieking woman held aloft by two soldiers kicked her legs, sending her skirt upward. I noticed the mud that collected among the hem, the strands of straw-colored hair that escaped her kerchief and swung wildly across her mouth. The hair blew with each shriek like curtains in the breeze, the skirt a gale that tore through a field of wheat, the woman the only source of movement beyond the scuffing hooves of the horses beside me.

“The child, Rohesia. Not the mother.”

The soldier by the river tossed the tattered cloth that had wrapped the baby on the ground and held the crying infant as far out in front of him as his stocky arms would allow. One gauntlet supported the baby’s head and neck, the other gripped the child’s body loosely, and I saw one impossibly small leg kick upward vainly.

–Oops, beta reader, I read this over again and changed a few words yet again if you noticed a difference, but yeah…

Posted in Writing, Writing: Help

WIPMarathon Check-In #3

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: 45,053 words and 15 1/2 chapters.

Current WC + CC: 72,956 words and 28 chapters and… COMPLETE! I finished the first draft!

Yeah, that goal to write “as much of the first draft as possible this month”? How about “finish the first draft a week before the month is up” instead? Yay. 😀 This was mostly due to a light work week and getting in the writing groove. And also, my story veered off in its own direction (disregarding the outline) twice, and the second time I had to throw out the rest of the outline (like 10 more chapters), it was so different. But I rewrote the end of the outline (shaving off five projected chapters and thus 10,000+ words) and it’s much better this way, I think.

My goal for this last week of the marathon is to make preliminary edits (usually just typo check and a few minors changes at this stage for me, before I get feedback) and start sending it to my beta, while also editing a manuscript I’m beta-ing for her, AND outline my next project, that shiny new idea that popped into my head this week.

WIP Issues this week: Getting off the outline not once, but twice, but both times it was for the better and I didn’t even get hit with writer’s block adjusting it.

What I learned this week in writing: I can finish another manuscript! (The three unfinished WIPs made me think it might never happen again.)

What distracted me this week while writing: Not much. I (obviously) had a good writing week! A shiny new idea did threaten to distract me, though, as I wrote the first paragraph for that and kept brainstorming ideas. But I pushed it aside and committed to finishing what I’d started.

Last 200 words: Can’t share due to spoilers! I thought about sharing the opening 200 words, but I’m not sure I want to just now. They’re pretty dark. ;-;

Posted in Writing, Writing: Help

WIPMarathon Check-In #2

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: 23,839 words and 7 chapters

Current WC + CC: 45,053 words and 15 1/2 chapters.

Yeah, I wrote more in one week than I did in the ENTIRE FIRST MONTH I worked on this WIP. It was a combination of this awesome WIP marathon, having the outline completed and having less work (boo) than usual.

WIP Issues this week: Continuing to balance the multiple POVs. It feels harder to keep them separate when I work on more than one chapter a day, but I’m not going to stop when I have the desire to keep writing! I just remind myself about how each character would view the situation.

Also, setting high expectations has a drawback. I’m starting to be disappointed with perfectly FINE accomplishments each day. Like this week, 1000-2000+ words per day was the norm, and that’s GREAT, but one day I did just under 800 and I felt sad. Um, but 800 was MORE than I was doing MOST days in all of July!

What I learned this week in writing: Getting over the initial “omg, I have tens of thousands of words ahead of me, I can’t do this~” hump has helped. I’m probably only halfway to the end even still, so I’ve got a lot to go. But it feels more like I can do it. I HAVE to do it. My characters want the story told. (I’m getting nervous as I approach the word count where I got irrevocably stuck in one of my previous WIPs.) Also, I’m still loving outlines now. I’ve even managed to keep thinking of new ideas as I write, but having that framework in place is immensely helpful.

What distracted me this week while writing: Car troubles and a busy schedule, but I still managed to find plenty of time to write.

Last 200 words: A little more, I cheated. Also, this is smack in the middle of a chapter, but I was done for the day:

Tierny grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me onward. “Avoid the ladies of the night.” We stopped moving, and I noticed a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. “At least when there are rumors the soldiers are combing their chambers.” I wondered if he would tell me to avoid them under any other circumstances.

He dropped my arm and guided me onward, through one alley and the next, through more puddles and muck than I ever imagined could exist.

At last he turned a corner and stopped again. No one was in this alley, and there was no torch to light our path. Something pulsated in the dark beneath me, like the heartbeat of the city, buried in mud and feces. I lifted a foot and shook it, suddenly feeling like I was covered in rats and insects.

Knock. Knock knock knock. Knock knock. Tierny’s fist pounded on a door I hadn’t even realized stood partway down the stone wall. He pounded the pattern again. And then once more.

“All right, enough.” A woman’s throaty voice called back from the other side of the doorway. I waited patiently, bouncing my knees and reminding myself that even a city as filthy as this one couldn’t possibly have as many spiders and vermin as I pictured now crawling up my leg, and the door opened, a squat and stocky woman holding up a candle in my face.

I looked down and saw my foot squished into the pile of what I hoped was horse excrement and all the maggots and worms squirming in it

And my little announcement–I came up with a working title last night! 

Fall Far From the Tree

I’m pretty bad at coming up with titles. (My other completed manuscript didn’t get one until after I’d finished the first draft.) It actually only works on one level, but I like how it sounds. However, it might give off too much of a contemporary vibe (the WIP is fantasy), and there isn’t enough direct connection to the narrative, and yeah… But the idea is a play on “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Well, it’s a working title anyway. And it’s better than “TITLE,” which it was named until today…

Posted in Writing, Writing: Help

WIPMarathon Check -In #1

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last Check-in Wordcount + ChapterCount: As of last Saturday, I’d just finished the fourth chapter and that took it to 17,480 words. (Long chapters, I know, but they were intro chapters and from now on, the chapters HAVE TO be shorter.)

Current WC + CC:
I outlined on Sunday and then got back to work. Now it’s at seven chapters, 23,839 words.

WIP Issues this week: Figuring out the rest of the plot (which I did with an outline, yay, I feel more confident now) and feeling bad about not writing much toward the end of the week because I was busy with work and then a bit ill.

What I learnt this week in writing: Writing outlines are not the enemy of creativity that pantser-me used to think. Yes, I love discovering the story as I write, but having that outline in place is so reassuring. I’ve tweaked a few things as I write, so it’s not like the outline is something rigid.

What distracted me this week while writing: Work and feeling sick. At least feeling sick let me read a lot, yay.

Last 200 words: Hmm…. Not my favorite passage or scene by any means (and a tiny bit more than 200), but:

“My advice, should you ever find yourself surrounded by an angry mob again.” The voice was alto, deep but melodious. I felt the soft brush of dark hair press against my cheek as he spoke, as the man—the man—ignored my blows and turned the horse backward, back toward the duchy. “Don’t rely on someone in the sky to get down in time to save you.” He flicked the reigns. “Hee-yah!” The horse went speeding forward, the few women and children remaining in that direction scrambling desperately to flee the pounding of hooves taking me away from Mother Flore and Mother Ermessenda, away from Mother Jehanne and the safety of the towers… And off into the burning ember sun, toward the duchy, a sun-kissed, unknown savior seated behind me.

“Why are there no men in the Stargazers, Mother Jehanne? Why must all the boys leave when they come of age?”

Mother Jehanne stroked my hair, lulling me to sleep with the rhythms of her rocking chair. “Ytoile would not permit their savagery. We take their gifts to the tower, it’s true. We might bless them even, if they are devout. But they will never be as dear to Ytoile as are women and children.” Mother Jehanne leaned in, whispering directly into my ear. “Men want women, Cateline. They want them in unspeakable ways. If one ever catches you, let Ytoile guide your hand. Don’t let him defile you.”

I shielded my eyes with my arm at my forehead, feeling the hot burn of the sun demon even through my closed eyelids, taunting me to do what needed doing.