I love my outdoor workspace (except when it’s 30 degrees outside).

For the past month, between work,  karate and finally reading Divergent (excellent book, by the way), I’ve been working on the second draft of Hero. And although I haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked, and I’m busting to get to the second part of the my revision process (editing the prose – why does ‘prose’ always sound so snobbish?), the novel is coming along nicely.

The job so far

1. I’ve completed the initial read and taken copious notes, both on paper, in Evernote and in a spreadsheet
2. The plot has been reworked, using the 7-point plot system, with eight scenes getting the axe and fifteen new ones added.
3. Chapter descriptions have been written, which has helped to fill blanks in the plot, and show me where the problem areas were
4. I have also written scene descriptions, which has also helped the plot
5. Crazy person that I am, I’ve also added meta descriptions to each scene, including:
   1. the status of the scene (e.g. write new scene, revise scene, etc.)
   2. when it takes place (day and time)
   3. what characters appear in it
   4. where it takes place.
6. And, I’m half-way through plugging the plot holes (which is where the ‘whoo!’ comes in).

I’m not entirely sure what function the meta descriptions are going to play (other than sorting out my timeline), but I’m sure inspiration will strike at some point.

The upshot

I have a detailed chapter-by-chapter and scene-by-scene synopsis in hard copy and a clear plan of action. Plus, I can quantify the work that needs to be done, which makes the actual work easier because I have something to work towards and tick off.

The numbers

• 8 scenes with minor revisions
• 16 with major revisions
• 15 completely new scenes to write

All of which makes for a total of 39 scenes, and to date I’ve completed 21. I’m almost half-way there! Double whoo!

The post Second draft progress. Whoo! appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday list was great because I had to go and find 10 debut books I wanted to read. Usually I’m so busy doing my chicken without a head impersonation that I don’t take the time to find out what’s happening in the bookish world.

While there are a lot of books coming out this year, most of them are urban fantasy and I’m a little overloaded on that genre. It also doesn’t help that I’m hideously picky about my reading matter, so my Top 10 is really a Top 9.

 

• Poison by Bridget Zinn
  This book has been on my TBR shelf for awhile and I was sad to learn that the author died late last year.
• Forged by Fate by Amilia Dillin
  Reading the blurb gave me tingles, but that could just have been the smell of fresh coffee…
• Blood’s Pride by Evie Manieri
  I love the cover on this one (the grey-ish version with the scary-looking woman on it), and the fact that the mercenary everyone is scared of is a woman (the one on the cover).

 

• Promise of Blood by Brian McCellan
  Gods, warfare and bloodshed. Yep, I was definitely a viking in another life.
• The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard
  I like the idea of this book, but stories involving the fae are one of those areas where I’m kinda picky, so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like.

 

• Running on Empty by L.B. Simmons
  From the blurb, it sounds similar to a Jennifer Crusie (one of my favourite authors) novel, so I’m really looking forward to it.
• Flirting with Magick by Leigh Bennett
  This one just sounds like a bit of fun.

 

• Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn
  This is not the sort of book I usually read, but since I’m challenging myself this year, and it sounds good, I’m looking forward to it.
• Fade to Black by Francis Knight
  Two things about this book caught my attention; 1) the cover rocks and 2) the tag line promises one of my favorite things, an antihero.

The post 10 debuts I’m looking forward to in 2013 appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

The 2013 Writer’s Creed

Over at Writer’s Alley, author SA Larsen has started the reBEL Writer’s Creed, as a reminder to be kind to ourselves, to work hard but not stupidly hard and to have faith that, eventually, we’ll get to where we want to be.

And that’s totally sexier than Enzio.

The post The reBEL Writer’s Creed – Sexier than Enzio appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

The revision of Hero, using the 7-point plot system

Just after Christmas, I finished the first draft of Hero and since the New Year I’ve been hard at work on the second draft. Dan Wells’s 7-point plot system (aka the Pantser’s Beat Sheet) has been incredibly helpful during the revision process – particularly the layering process (explained in part 5 of Dan Wells’s lecture, available on YouTube) – and it too has undergone a revision.

Note: You’ll find a list of the helpful links referenced at the end of this post.

First draft blah

When I finished the first draft of Hero, I expected to be so excited I would dance around the living room like a maniac. There would have been fireworks (appropriate for New Year’s Eve), celebrations and a bottle of bubbly, maybe even a medal or a trophy or basket of chocolates.

Instead there was blah. It was that beige, boring kind of blah that has no word to describe its blah-ness. A direct consequence, no doubt, of it being so blah that the entire English-speaking world has forgotten to put it in the dictionary.

Why the blah? Well, it was Christmas and there were weddings to attend, turkey to eat and presents to give and maybe I was just a little over the whole first draft thing. Second and finals drafts are so much more exciting.

Revising Hero

Frankly, I don’t know why I ever thought I was a pantser. Plot is good, but trying to find it in an organic, as-you-write-it kind of fashion is an exercise in frustration. So after an initial read, in which I found more plot holes and forgotten subplots than I can poke my pen at, I turned once again to the 7-point plot system. I think it’s saved my sanity, not to mention a few months of rewriting.

Although I’ve only just started the second draft, I now have ten new chapters, five discarded chapters and a clear idea of what needs to be written in order to give Hero a good, clear plot. It may not even take me the six months I thought it would, which means I can have it out and into the world that much sooner (not to mention get started on the next book).

The Pantser’s beat sheet, revised

Plot and subplot layering for Hero, using the 7-point plot system.

As by-product of the revision process, I’ve also revised my version of the 7-point Story Structure template (you can find the original here), adding a row for theme (if you’re not sure what I mean by theme, here’s a great explanation) above each of the action, character arc and subplot columns and another row for descriptions and notes to self, above that.

This time around, I’ve also included a second sheet for the layering of plots and subplots (YouTube link), which is by far the most useful part of the 7-point system.

Goodies

• 7-point Story Structure template
  MS Excel

Helpful links

• Pantser’s Beat Sheet
• A definition of theme for writers
• Dan Wells on the 7-point Story Structure – layering

The post Revising Hero and the Pantser’s Beat Sheet appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

My look at the future involves not just looking forward, but taking a few glances back, because while technology advances faster and faster, we don’t.

You can view all of the music videos, TV and film trailers here, on YouTube.

Three songs

Short Change Hero, by The Heavy

Rolling in the Deep, by Adele

Wanted Dead or Alive, by Bon Jovi

1. Short Change Hero by The Heavy
2. Rolling in the Deep by Adele
3. Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi

Three TV series

Whitechapel

Falling Skies

Caprica TV series poster

1. Caprica
2. Falling Skies
3. Whitechapel

Three movies

District 9

The General’s Daughter

The Long Kiss Goodnight

1. District 9
   By the end of this film, I really hated humans.
2. The Long Kiss Goodnight
   “Chefs do that,” she says, after her husband catches her licking the whipped cream she just scooped off a dead man’s face from her finger.
3. The General’s Daughter

Equals this book

Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith

Code of Conduct by Kristine Smith

Captain Jani Killian had been Evan Van Reuter’s lover eighteen years ago, when a Commonwealth diplomatic corps, sent to establish peaceful relations with the alien idomeni, took sides in a civil war. Jani was presumed killed in the ensuing bloodbath, and Evan went on to become the Commonwealth’s Interior Minister. But Jani survived as well more or less. Doctors gave her a new face and patched her broken body together with illegally obtained idomeni genetic materials. They healed her of everything but her memory of the desperate actions she had taken — sure to result in summary execution should Commonwealth authorities discover her existence.

 

Which makes it unwise to refuse Evan’s request for help in solving the mystery of his wife’s death. There is no shortage of suspects, and the trail draws Jani back into the trauma of Rauta Shiraa and secrets long buried there, secrets someone has killed to protect. If she isn’t careful, she’ll wind up the next victim — assuming her own body doesn’t kill her first. For after eighteen years, her rebuilt body is failing. Jani is dying. Or is she being reborn?

Buy it from Better World Books
Add it to you Goodreads shelf

The post The Thursday Trail – A look at the future appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the good people at the Broke and the Bookish.

For this round of Top Ten Tuesday, I’m breaking my list up into two sections. The first section is for this year’s writing-related goals and the second are my reading-related goals.

Writing goals

1. I completed the first draft of my first book, Hero, just after Christmas, so I think it’s only fair if I have a completed manuscript by the end of 2013 (if not before).
2. Comprehensively outline book two (working title, Skin) in the Jorn trilogy.
3. A-little-more-than-roughly outline book three (working title, Native).
4. Come up with an appropriate title for the series. I almost like The Jorn Chronicles, but only almost.

Reading goals

Here, you may note that a number of my goals include some of last week’s to-read list, as well as a few other challenges. This is not cheating, it’s just good common sense. Promise.

1. Read 11 books by female Aussie authors for the 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge.
2. Read at least a book a week, and 60 within the year, for the Goodreads challenge.
3. Read more books from outside of science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy.
4. Read all of the ebooks I’ve bought and not read (there are many).
5. Read On Writing and Story.
6. Reduce the number of books in my TBR pile by 10%, which, as of today, stands at 240. Here’s my hit list for 2013.

Anyone else want to commit to reading 10% of their TBR pile this year?

The post Top Ten Tuesday – Bookish goals for 2013 appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

Hosted by the Broke and Bookish

This year I’m participating in a few memes and the very first one is Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish (which is a great blog title!).

Aptly, the first Top Ten for the year is the Top 10 books I’m going to read this year. In this I’ve sprinkled some of the books I also have listed for the Australian Women Writers Challenge (AWWC) 2013. The AWWC is about raising the profile of female authors in Australia, because always seems as if the men win all the literary prizes.

1. On Writing by Stephen King
   I’ve been reading this off and on for awhile now, I think it’s about time I finished it.
2. Finnikin of the Rock by Merlina Marchetta
   This is meant to be a fantastic book. I think I’ll reward myself for finishing Stephen King by reading this.
3. Eon (aka Two Pearls of Wisdom) by Alison Goodman
   Like On Writing, this has been in my bookshelf for, quite literally, years. I think it’s aged enough.
4. My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton
   1) I love the cover and 2) I love the description.
5. Killer Instinct by Zoë Sharp
   Strong female protagonist, the promise of mayhem… what’s not to like?
6. Croak by Gina Damico
   The cover on this book rocks and that alone is enough reason for me to read it.
7. Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier
   I’m going to be reading at least one book by this author in 2013, and this one looks good.
8. The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
   Over the course of 15 years, I’ve started this book twice. This year feels like a good one to finish it.
9. Highprince of War by Brandon Sanderson
   The only reason this book is all the way down here, is because I don’t know if it’ll be out this year. Fingers crossed!
10. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
    I love this movie! Why haven’t I read the book yet?

You can find all of the above books on my Top 10 2013 Goodreads shelf.

The post 10 books I’m going to read in 2013, promise appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

5 new Scrivener template sheets for your enjoyment.

I might have previously mentioned that I love templates, and you might ask why. I love them because they make world-building easier, not in a ‘this is how things must be done’ way, but in a ‘here’s some questions to get you started’ way.

Sometimes, when I’m in the thick of creating a story, or the world it’s going to be set in, I have an idea for a something (generally a plant, animal, person or thing). This something often plays an important role in my developing plot (or world), and while I may know a few details, such as its name and function, the nitty-gritty can elude me. 

The last thing I want to do when I’m in full plot- or world-developing flight is get sidetracked by the nitty-gritty. I’d rather spend the brainpower describing the new world, species or thingy-ma-bob, than racking my brain (and the Internet) for the first question I should be asking myself (such as, is this planet habitable?). Which is where templates come in.

For me, templates are questionnaires that take all of the hard, boring work out of plot-development and world-building, and leave the hard, fun work behind. Creating them is also a fantastic procrastination tool.

For your convenience (and my procrastination) below are some more world-building goodies. If you missed the previous set, you can find them here.

Goodies

Scrivener project template

• Snowflake method with tasks and template sheets vol. 2 (ZIP)

Template sheets

• All five template sheets as a ZIP file
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Species
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Diseases
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Weapons
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Vehicles
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Major events
  Rich Text | MS Word

Printable worksheets

These worksheets, from Michael James Liljenberg at Elfwood, are well worth checking out.

• Civilisation worksheet
• Foodchain worksheet
• Planet worksheet

The post 5 more Scrivener templates appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

The 7-point plot system really helped me to nail my plot.

A few weeks ago, I was at the half-way point of my first draft and having trouble with my plot. After ten months of steadily pounding away at the keyboard and chipping at the word count, I was increasing asking myself “what the $#*! happens now?” Although I knew what was going to happen at the end of my story, I didn’t know:

1. how I was going to get there, or
2. how all of my subplots were meant to tie in.

And frankly, it was driving me batty.

What I wanted – really, really wanted – was some sort of spreadsheet where I could chart what had happened so far, both in the main plot and the subplots. Somehow, I came across LizWritesBooks where Liz refreshed my memory regarding the beat sheet and, more importantly, introduced me to the 7-point plot system, a beat sheet for pantsers.

The 7-point system is ridiculously helpful, not to mention easy to use, especially when it comes time to integrate your subplots with your main one. I won’t attempt to explain how it works here (Dan Wells, the system’s almost-creator, does a much better job than I could) but the concept of layering (which you can learn about in the aforementioned YouTube lecture) was the revelation that solved all of my problems with plot (for the moment at least). I’m not sure how it will work when it comes time to analyse my first draft for plot holes, it may be too simplistic, but as a starting point it’s the best.

Goodies

Like any good system for improving your plot, 7-points comes with a template (and some informative slides) to make your life easier. Below is my take on the template. It’s the same as the original, with a little more information about each of the seven points built-in.

• 7-point plot system template
  PDF | MS Excel
• 7-point plot system presentation slides
  PDF (13.7MB)

 Have you used the 7-point plot system? Does it work for you?

The post Beat sheet to the rescue, pantser-style appeared first on Belinda Crawford.

A new project using the Snowflake Method template. As you can see, I like to be organised and I really, really, like templates.

This week, I decided to take a break from my frustrations (otherwise known as a first draft) and trial the Snowflake Method of writing a novel. I even found a great Scrivener template to start me off.

Currently, I’m at step five, character synopses, of the ten-step process. It was this step, and the previous character-related step, that made me realise I needed some comprehensive template sheets to assist me in the planning/world-building process. Since it’s not every day I create planets and interstellar empires (I’m writing a sci-fi) I needed a little help with what to include in the template. A comprehensive google didn’t turn up any Scrivener-ready templates, but I did come across a number of excellent non-Scrivener templates. Me being me, I spent a few hours Scrivener-ising what I had found and added them to the project template, along with a few new research folders and custom icons.

If you’d like to take a sticky-beak, you will find the templates below, ready for you to download, enjoy and use any which-way you like.

The template, and associated template sheets, is a work-in-progress and I’ll be adding more sheets sort-of-soon-ish. If you have any ideas for new template sheets, or know of some existing ones, please let me know! I don’t promise to include them, but I’d love to see them.

Download the goodies

Scrivener project template

• Snowflake method with tasks and template sheets (ZIP)

Template sheets

• All four template sheets as a ZIP file
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Character profiles
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Nations
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Interstellar nations
  Rich Text | MS Word
• Planets
  Rich Text | MS Word

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