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    Don’t Abandon Your Book – Edit & Revise It! Webinar with NaNoWriMo and AutoCrit

    So you won at NaNoWriMo. Congratulations! Finishing a 50,000 word (or more) draft is a huge accomplishment. But what are you going to do with it now? Don’t just abandon your book–edit and revise it!

    Join expert publishing consultant Ally Machate for a special webcast hosted jointly by NaNoWriMo and AutoCrit as we explore how to move your manuscript toward completion and publication. We’ll talk about taking those next steps with your draft, including how to approach your revision process, what it looks like to work through a book with an aim toward publication, and more.

    Plus get an inside peek at how to edit and revise through the self-editing process as Ally and AutoCrit co-owner Kevin Pruemer work through an excerpt of a NaNoWriMo draft using AutoCrit, an amazingly robust online tool that helps you revise your manuscript with confidence.

    Now that the event is over, you can still get access to this free webinar recording. Click here.

    Ally to Speak on Panels at Arisia 2019

     

    For the first time, Ally will be traveling to speak on panels at Arisia 2019! Arisia is a convention for fans of science fiction and fantasy, in all forms of media, held annually in January on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. They strive to uphold their commitment to creating a space for science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages, ethnicity, genders, abilities, and orientations to explore, learn, and just plain have fun.

    The convention coordinators pack a LOT of activities into their four-day event. You can be sure to find Ally on the following panels:

    Saturday 5:30pm ET: Publishing Diverse Books: Readers are hungry for books that showcase the breadth and diversity of human experience. Are publishers noticing a real sea change? How are they answering the readers’ hunger for these books? Where are they looking for fresh perspectives from unheard voices, and how have their professional tactics, tastes, and hiring practices changed or evolved?
    Monday 10am ET: Blocked: What to Do When the Words Stop:  It’s a well-known hazard of writing: the day the words stop flowing and no story appears on the horizon demanding to be written. Assuming you’re not ready to simply throw in the towel, what are ways writers can win the battle? Are some strategies better than others? Are some strategies not so helpful?
    You may also find her at the Broad Universe table in the vendor area, chatting with writers and offering on-the-spot advice to help you write better, publish more successfully, and sell more books. Stop by if you’re at the con!

    Arisia is held January 18-21, 2019 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.  For more info, you may contact Tanya “Selkiechick” Washburn at programming@arisia.org. To register, click here.

    Arisia is produced by Arisia, Inc., non-profit educational organization. While the annual convention is undoubtedly its largest project, Arisia, Inc. does much more, including distributing grants to organizations or projects that further its mission to promote science fiction and fantasy, so don’t forget to check them out!

    Why Now? How to Identify Problems with Causation in Your Novel

     

    From the day you started writing your novel, you’ve been excited to reach the scene. The moment of confrontation between your main characters. The explosion of rage and anger (or possibly love and lust, depending on your story!) building between them from the very first page. But even though your writing is sharp, and the dialogue clear and convincing, the scene doesn’t have the emotional impact you intend. You want this scene to happen. You need it to happen. But the narrative you’ve written has left one important question unanswered: Why does it happen right now?

    Cause and effect is the engine of narrative.

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    Last month, we discussed how narrative is a domino reaction built around the principle of cause and effect, every plot beat the effect of what precedes it and the cause of what follows. Cause and effect is the engine of narrative. If that engine doesn’t appear to be running, there’s a good chance that you have problems with causation in your novel. But how do we identify such problems?

    That’s the question we’ll answer in this second installment in our series on cause and effect. We’ll do this by exploring two different problems: effect without cause and cause without effect.

    [Missed the first part of this series? Start here.]

    Effect Without Cause

    As a professional book editor, I recently worked with a client’s novel in which any of a dozen different plot points—a car breaking down, a departing roommate, a career opportunity—felt in some respect abrupt and out of place. It’s not that the scenes were poorly written—in fact, they were often very well-written. It’s not that they didn’t fit the story either. It’s that all these scenes, all throughout the novel, evoked the very same question we noted above: Why now?

    We ask that question due to problems with causation, in particular, the absence of cause.

    I’ve written before about what I call “the Godzilla Effect.” The concept is this: You can’t create a great climax just by dropping Godzilla into whatever story you happen to be writing. It may be exciting, and it may be surprising, but the climax doesn’t work if it doesn’t emerge naturally from the events of your novel.

    The same is true of all plot points. Everything that happens should be the effect of what precedes it. If readers don’t understand why that car is breaking down now, or why the roommate is leaving now, or why the career opportunity has come up now—if much of the action of your novel has its basis in events that originate outside our chain of cause and effect—then what we’re seeing is problems with causation in your novel, in this case, effect without cause. And a story in which events just happen lacks the momentum cause and effect provide. It’s a lot less engaging for the reader.

    Stories in which events just happen lack the momentum cause and effect provide and are less engaging for readers.

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    In short, it’s not the scene that isn’t working—it’s how you got there. So, your revisions have less to do with the moment in which the problem is experienced than in the chain of cause and effect leading up to that moment. Examine that chain and see what specific plot points can be changed or added to cause or set up the moment in question.

    Cause Without Effect

    But sometimes the problem with causation in your novel isn’t just about why now? The problem is, instead, why at all?

    The great Russian author Anton Chekhov famously wrote, “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.” His focus was economy of storytelling—the notion that every sentence must be essential—but the concept we call “Chekov’s gun” is also very relevant to causation. A setup that never pays off—cause without effect—can be every bit as problematic in a narrative as effect without cause.

    Consider that special scene mentioned above: Your main characters finally confronting one another or coming together in some way. The scene may be well-written—brilliant, even—but if we reach the next scene and both characters are still behaving exactly the way they were before, and interacting with one another the way they were before, then naturally readers are going to wonder what the point of that supposedly pivotal scene was.

    The same can be true of any scene. Why did the car break down if the protagonist isn’t going to miss an appointment or sink unavailable money into the repairs? Why is the roommate moving out if she’s still going to be around all the time anyway as if she still lived there? Why does the career opportunity come up if the character isn’t going to consider it or even think about it ever again?

    Cause without effect is like a single domino set up beside, but not within, a domino rally. If you can remove the domino from the floor without affecting the rally at all, then the domino isn’t necessary. If you can remove a scene, a sequence, or even a moment from your manuscript with no notable effect on the surrounding action, you can be pretty confident that cause without effect is the problem. And like Chekhov says, if the gun isn’t going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there in the first place.

    Like Chekhov says, if the gun isn’t going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there in the first place.

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    Rebuilding the Dominoes

    So now we know that when a scene you’ve written isn’t working, it’s a good idea to ask both of these important questions to identify problems with causation in your novel:

    • Why now?
    • Why at all?

    These together make up an essential part of my professional book editing toolkit, and you’ll find they help steer you as you work too. They’re different questions, but they share the same wrong answer: I don’t know. If neither you nor the narrative itself can answer these questions, you have some revisions ahead of you.

    But how do you make significant revisions to a manuscript without screwing up the rest of the structure you’ve already crafted?

    That’s what we’re going to address in the next installment in our series on cause and effect, “How to Revise and Improve Your Narrative Structure.” For now, consider: Have you ever written a plot beat that turned out to be effect without cause or cause without effect? How did you resolve the problem? Share your favorite tips with our readers in the Comments below!

    To read the next and last article in this series, click here.

     

    harrison-demchick-book-editorHarrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than two dozen published novels and memoirs, several of which have been optioned for film. He is an award-winning, twice-optioned screenwriter, and the author of literary horror novel The Listeners. He’s part of The Writer’s Ally team as a developmental editor of fiction and memoir, for which he’s currently accepting new clients.

    5 Steps to the Best Book Introduction Ever

    I’m sure you’ve heard many times that your book’s opening pages are critically important. In keeping with this advice, the most important chapter you write in your nonfiction book may be the introduction. But do you know how to write the best book introduction? What does that even look like, and why is it so important?

    In this article I’m going to give you a five-step method to write the best book introduction that will engage your reader, establish trust, and keep your reader interested enough to read the rest of your book.

    1. Finish Writing the Book First

    Wait, what? I know, it sounds silly. But there’s a very good reason that I recommend you finish writing the rest of the book before you come back to write the introduction. Even though it’s the first part a reader will read, it’s the last part you want to write.

    The thing is, even though you may have a detailed outline, you won’t really know what you’ve said in the book until you’ve written that last page. And if you aren’t a detailed outliner, then you have an even vaguer sense of what you’re going to write about beyond your main topic and perhaps a handful of chapter topics.

    Writing your book completely before you return to pen the introduction can help you nail down the feel of the book and the attitude you wish to portray, and that in turn helps you understand what tone you need to set from page one. Knowing where you ultimately intend to take your reader on this journey will also help you see what they need to know to start off right and prepared.

    2. Identify the Points You Want to Raise

    Now that you can see where you’re taking your reader, you can identify the points you need to raise before they get started. Think of your introduction, in part, as orientation for the system, program, journey, etc. that is your book.

    For example, is there a mindset that readers need to adopt to get the most out of your instruction? Are you taking for granted that they have a certain base level of knowledge or that they agree with you on certain foundational ideas? Don’t assume. Instead, touch on those points to make sure you and your reader are (excuse the pun) on the same page.

    Is your book making an argument for a new perspective on something old-hat, or presenting information on a newly emerging issue? Presenting an overview of the points you will make throughout the book can help intrigue readers who want to see how your ideas unfold.

    Before you begin writing your book introduction, it’s a good idea to list all the points you want to include. Then, you have some work to do in adjusting those points to suit your reader. Savvy experts know that regardless of what you may want to say to your reader, the most important thing to keep in mind is what they want to hear from you. I don’t mean that you should pander to them or blow smoke. But an effective book is not a soapbox, and if you treat it like one you’re likely to end up shouting on an empty street corner.

    Instead, keep in mind the old marketing adage that drives all great prescriptive books: What’s in it for me?

    3. Connect Your Points to the Purpose

    Something brought your reader to your book. Most likely a problem, a question, or a desire to have, learn, or be something. The points you want to make are important, but to write the best book introduction you need to use at least some of those points in support of that “something” that lead your reader to check out your book in the first place. And the best way to do that is to address the four key elements of an introduction’s purpose:

    1. Introduce the general concept of the book (what problem or issue the book will be addressing) as well as to introduce your solution or perspective.
    2. Reinforce the reader’s impression that this book might meet their needs by explaining who it is written for.
    3. Underscore why the reader needs this book vs. someone else’s and what it will do for them (the promise and the benefits).
    4. Explain why the reader should trust and listen to you (your authority or experience).

    As you read your draft, ask yourself if you’ve sufficiently addressed these four elements. It isn’t necessary to follow this formula to the letter, though the order I’ve presented will work just fine. The point is that all these elements must appear somewhere in those opening pages if you want to write the best book introduction.

    How to Use This Book

    Besides these four key elements, the most important information a reader requires when opening your book is instruction on how to get the most out of it. You may include this as a subsection of your introduction or create a new chapter. And you don’t have to be as blunt as to call either option “How to Use This Book” (though that is a common choice). What matters is that you provide specific instruction on what readers will find as they progress and how they should interact with it.

    In other words, you will want to review any special elements (sidebars, exercises, quizzes, etc.), unique vocabulary used, and any other advice you have for working through the book. Helpful advice might include such tips as encouraging readers to form a group, suggesting they download worksheets from your website, or offering guidance on time-frames such as working through one chapter or exercise per week.

    A word about vocabulary: Sometimes we use self-explanatory phrases that are unique to our philosophy or programs while other times we significantly reinvent a known word or phrase’s usage. The most crucial terminology needs explaining at the outset, but most of your vocabulary can be explained as each word or phrase appears in the manuscript. It’s tedious for the reader to review and learn a long list of new words and phrases all at once and in many cases many chapters before they need to, and it takes her focus away from where you really want it: on digging into the problem at hand.

    4. Add a Hook

    When people spot your book on a shelf or click through online, they’ll often read the title first. If that interests them, they read the cover copy or online book description. If you’ve still got them, their next step is to peruse the table of contents and start reading the introduction.

    Notice they still haven’t bought.

    And if you fail to keep them interested, they never will. So, your introduction must grab your reader and hold them if you are ever going to sell your book. It must engage or “hook” readers and make them want to keep reading.

    Most often, your hook forges an instant connection with the reader or raises a tantalizing question. For example, a solution-based book might begin with a brief story of a time the author suffered from the same problem as the reader. This allows the reader to “see” himself in the author’s story, and thus begin to feel hopeful that the author’s solution will likewise work for him. A book that will dismantle an outdated belief might start with a little-known fact or a pointed question. This intrigues the reader. He begins to wonder how the author will go on to make her argument and what new ideas she will offer up.

    5. Write the Best Book Introduction Ever

    And, finally, now that you’ve basically mapped out and planned the most important aspects of your introduction, all that’s left is to start writing.

    If you’ve completed the first four steps, your work should be easy as you connect all the dots. A few things to keep in mind:

    • Make sure your tone is consistent with the rest of the book.
    • Ensure that the points you raise successfully orient the reader for the journey they’re about to take with you.
    • Don’t let your introduction run too long. You want to cover the important bits, but readers ultimately will want to get on with it, and so should you.

    Got any tips of your own to offer? How did you plan out your book’s introduction, and what’s in it?

    Ally Machate Book EditorFounder of The Writer’s Ally, Ally E. Machate is a bestselling book collaborator, award-winning editor, and expert publishing consultant who loves using her insider knowledge and experience with the publishing industry to lead serious authors toward success. She and her team live to help make great books happen, whether that means showing a writer how to improve a manuscript, get an agent, or self-publish; or coaching an author on growing her platform to sell more books. Since 1999, she has supported hundreds of authors on their publishing journey and takes pride in serving as their books’ best ally.

    3 Keys to the Best Writer’s Retreat for You

     

    This month we welcome as our guest blogger TWA client Lia Mack, novelist and activist and recently co-host to a brand new writer’s retreat in beautiful western Maryland. Don’t forget to share with your friends to earn serious brownie points (with them and with us <wink>) and leave a comment with your thoughts—we want to know your opinion!

    When I started writing my first novel, I signed up for a local weekend writer’s retreat. Don’t ask me where I got the nerve, as I had been a “closet writer” up until that point. Yet there I was, out of my closet, sitting with other writers, writing with other writers, learning about the craft of writing with other writers. Even admitting to being a writer!

    It was a weekend of total writing immersion and a pivotal point in my writing career. I’m not sure where I’d be today if I hadn’t taken that first real step toward taking myself seriously as a writer. Still in my closet?

    Honestly, I’m glad I took the chance. Not only was I able to be finally myself – the writer I knew I always had been – I also got to meet and talk shop with other writers, which taught me a powerful truth: I wasn’t alone. We were all eager to write and learn, yet full of self-doubt. And yet, being grouped together for that writer’s retreat weekend with all that glorious writing time and comradery empowered me to not only keep writing but also to better my craft and eventually see my dreams of publication come true.

    If interested in going to a writer’s retreat, just do a quick Google search and you’ll find high-priced, far-off getaways, affordable yet unique local writing retreats, and everything in between. And each one’s offerings – from gourmet meals to yoga to hiking to polar bear plunges even – are just as varied as the writers who attend them. So here are three keys to making sure you choose the best writer’s retreat for you.

    1. Time to Write

    Time to write is the biggest reason writers attend writing retreats, and therefore it’s the main focus of almost every writer’s retreat out there. Life is hectic and most days it’s convenient to push your writing off until tomorrow. And tomorrow. And again, tomorrow… So it’s easy to see the lure of quantifiable writing time.

    Make sure the retreat has set aside enough time for you to actually write by looking closely at its schedule. Be sure it includes enough group or solo writing time to allow your creative juices to really start flowing! Consider the Rocky Mountain Writing Retreat in Colorado, which boasts 30 hours of writing time during its three-day retreat. Or The Genuine Writer’s Retreat in Maryland, which hosts both group write-ins as well as individual writing time in a unique tiny house village (full disclosure, I’m co-hosting this event, and I’d love to see you there!).

    2. Explore the Craft of Writing

    Although most writer’s retreats do focus on offering uninterrupted time to write, most host writing workshops, writing craft classes, and seminars as well. And while they are similar to what you may find at a writing conference, the ones at a writing retreat are much more intimate and geared toward participants’ needs. Some retreats even include one-on-one editorial sessions and work-in-progress critiques! Having the opportunity to have someone in-the-know read your writing and offer constructive feedback is crucial to discovering ways to better your craft.

    And there are writing workshop types aplenty. For example, maybe you’re interested in plot, dialogue, character development and all that jazz. You’d want to look for a retreat that’s specifically geared toward fiction writers. Or maybe you’re interested in the publication process and how to build your author platform. You’d then want to find a retreat that will help you learn all the ins and outs of social media, websites, and the how to’s of getting published.

    Or maybe you’re wondering just how other writers find the time to write? That’s why I developed the “KISSing Isn’t Just For Romance Writers” workshop for The Genuine Writer’s Retreat in May. Although I love kissing and romance, this one’s all about “KISS” – as in Keep It Simple Silly – and includes writer-friendly ways in which participants fine-tune their motivation and discover how they can fit in time to write well after the retreat has ended.

    3. Meet Other Writers

    True, some writers would rather hide in a cabin alone in the woods and write all day. I count myself among them most days, as that’s the best way I know how to write – without interruption. However, if you’ve ever spent time with other writers, as I did at my first writer’s retreat, you quickly discover just how empowering and inspiring it can be to meet with like-minded people in this solitary endeavor.

    Meeting other writers, sharing in the experience and life of a writer can feel like coming home to people who, like me, have been a “closet writer” for years. If you ask me, meeting other writers face to face, not just on the Internet, is THE BEST part of any writer’s retreat. You’ll feel like part of a community. And you have the potential of making life-long writing friends!

    Create Your Own Writer’s Retreat

    If you’re interested in creating your own writer’s retreat, I’ve included some useful tips below.

    • When choosing the location and accommodations for your writing retreat, keep in mind the vibe and value you want to bring to your attendees. Some retreat centers are all-inclusive, which makes planning easy! But all-inclusive could easily equate to pricey, so be sure to stay aware of the overall price you’ll be asking of your attendees if your aim is to keep it affordable.
    • When deciding on your writing retreat’s schedule of events, keep in mind the overall writing value you want to give attendees. Is the point of your event to have writers meet other writers and build their confidence? Or are you having a retreat so people can meet well-known authors and have a chance to ask them all about their writing process? There are a great many ways to bring value to your attendees, so be sure to hone in on the exact advantage you want to deliver.
    • Don’t forget the wise words from Stephen King’s The Shining… “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Attendees need to eat to fuel their writing sessions, and they need a chance to blow off steam and commiserate with their fellow writer attendees. So don’t forget the food and fun! That’s what getting together is all about.
    • So whether you’re near the beach or up in the mountains, think of ways to use the natural beauty and amenities of your location to tie into your retreat. Hiking trails on the property. Yoga in the morning. A beautiful breakfast spread in the community house. And ensure the weather is conducive to outside treks as well unless you’re planning a skier’s writing retreat (and if that’s the case, sign me up!)

    When deciding on the right retreat for you, it’s easy to get caught up in the wonder and excitement of it all. And you should be excited. You’re officially thinking of yourself and your writing as being worth the investment, which is key to further developing your craft.

    Good for you, writer!

    Whatever your desire and dream, I hope this article will help you make it happen. And if you’re tiny house-obsessed and can’t wait to get in some valuable writing time, strengthen your skills and sit around a warm campfire to talk about writing stuff, please join us at The Genuine Writer’s Retreat! As a bonus, if you register before the Early Bird discount ends on March 15th, my co-host or I will read and critique up to 10 pages of your current work in progress! I know how valuable it was to me as a new writer to be able to not only share my work with other writers, but also to get useful, constructive feedback on ways to better my craft. Therefore, I want to extend the same opportunity to you! Learn more here.

    Whatever you choose, I hope the writer’s retreat you decide to invest your time and money in is all you hope and need it to be.

    In addition to Lia Mack’s debut novel Waiting for Paint to Dry, her creative non-fiction has been seen in such publications as The Washington Post, Nickelodeon Jr. Magazine, Advances in Bereavement Magazine and Nesting Magazine. She is also a guest blogger at Award-Winning Writer/Director Angela Shelton’s Survivor Manual, a blog dedicated to inspiring and empowering sexual abuse survivors. A born and raised military brat – Go Air Force! – Lia was born in Kansas grew up in many places such as Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Italy, and Maryland. She currently resides in Maryland with her husband, two children, and three American Rat Terriers.

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