12 Helpful Tips When Writing a Book

There are a lot of tips to keep in mind when writing a book. One of my favorites is show—don’t tell. Here are a few other helpful tips I’ve learned along the way.

12 Helpful Tips When Writing a Book

1. When an idea comes along—jot it down.
2. Make time to write. Create a writing schedule that works for you.
3. Set and meet your deadlines.
4. Save your first draft. It can help you stay on path when you accidentally stray from your original idea.
5. Edit. A LOT.
6. Read what you’ve written out loud. Hearing your own words will help you in the editing process.
7. Write—even when you don’t feel like writing. You’ll be amazed at what you come up with.
8. Get beta readers you trust.
9. Pick your editor carefully. (My first editor missed a few things on my manuscript. Thankfully, I caught and corrected the mistakes before my final draft was published.)
10. Pay attention to constructive criticism, but do what you feel is best for your story.
11. Keep your book title short and memorable.
12. Endings need to close the story—not ruin it. Write it carefully.

What’s your favorite  tip when writing a book?

 

A Happy Holiday Book Release

I am in the midst of preparing a nice holiday dinner for family tonight. Still have a lot to do, but I thought I’d take a quick break and update you on my novel.

Trying to release a book during the holidays is probably an insane idea, which was why I originally planned on releasing my novel last month. Unfortunately, editing took longer than I expected.

My manuscript sat with my editor for three long weeks. When I got my manuscript back, I was thrilled to find only a few markups, which I immediately worked on. After that, I set up my files then sent them to print. Once the files were approved, I ordered a printed proof. My proof arrived a few days later, and I was excited to read my book in print format. I had no idea I was in for a big surprise. I found mistakes I didn’t catch on screen, but more importantly, I found mistakes my editor completely missed. Most of the mistakes were minor, but there were a few that made me cringe. It was disappointing and very frustrating.

Quick writing tip: Don’t just proof your manuscript on screen. Print it out. You will be amazed at what you can find.

I finished doing my edits last Saturday, and I received the online proof last night. I’m getting ready to review it—hopefully, one last time.

I know that I could easily postpone my release date to next year, but I won’t. I can’t. 2012 has been a productive and good year for me. It just feels right to release HIGH this year.

So after tonight’s celebration, I will make time to review my book one last time. I’m hoping that by Christmas morning, the eBook version of HIGH will be available for everyone to view.

I hope you are enjoying the holidays with good company and good food. I wish you all happiness and success in the coming New Year.

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays!

Tips I Learned from My Editor

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I overate, as usual.

Now that I’ve gone through my whole manuscript and read all the markups (a dozen times) from my editor, I thought I’d share what I learned with all of you. I think these are helpful tips we can all use the next time we write.

Let me preface by saying that most of the edits I got were focused on making sure my manuscript aligns with the guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style and that the spelling choices of certain words match Merriam-Webster’s.

Okay vs. OK:
Per Merriam-Webster’s, use OK.

Toward vs. towards:
Use toward. (Both are acceptable, but toward is preferred in American and Canadian English.)

Numbers:
• As a general rule, all numbers at the beginning of a sentence should be spelled out.
• Spell out whole numbers one through one hundred.
• Spell out numbers in dialogues.

Time:
• When using o’clock, the time should be spelled out (e.g., The meeting starts at five o’clock in the morning).
• To show exact times, use numerals (e.g., The last bus leaves at 11:30 p.m.).

Commas:
In direct address, use commas (e.g., Thank you, Adam.), and after yes and no (e.g., Yes, I will be there.).

Capitalizations:
Per Chicago professional titles are generally only capitalized when used with a name.

Foreign words:
Foreign words and phrases are usually italicized unless used commonly.

Watch out for overused words:
Turns out I used “deep breath” more than a dozen times. Yikes.

Well that’s it. I hope you guys find these tips helpful.

Have a great weekend!

Back from the Editor

I’m excited. I’m smiling and I can’t stop. I just got my manuscript back from my editor and I am thrilled to say that I received pretty good feedback. There are minor edits throughout the manuscript, like deleting a few commas, italicizing certain words, etcetera. But the overall feedback was positive. Whew. I can breathe now.

I’m glad I edited my manuscript as much as I did and that I used beta readers to help me tighten and polish my story. After getting feedback from my editor, I feel ready to finally release HIGH.

Now I’m off to the next phase—editing and figuring out when my launch date will be.

Happy writing!

Novel Update: Beta Readers and Their Feedback

After I sent my manuscript to my beta readers, I didn’t look at my story for about a month. It felt good to take a break from editing. It gave me time to work on other things that are still related to my book, like my book cover and editing my synopsis. I gave my beta readers 3 weeks to read and critique my work and within the 3 weeks, I slowly started getting feedback. Each critique was formatted differently and each one varied in length. The longer one took to get back to me, the longer their feedback seemed to be. I’m sure it was a coincidence.

The most gratifying feedback I got was they all liked my plot and characters. To me, this is the most important thing.

After going through all the comments/feedback from each beta reader, I noticed that there were only a few comments that were similar—about 4 to be exact. The rest were different from each other. My challenge now is studying each comment and figuring out which edits to make. Whatever change I end up doing has to work with my story and has to help strengthen my novel.

So far, I’ve looked at each critique and highlighted the changes I feel will help my story. I am currently applying the changes by going through each critique one at a time. For instance, today I’ll do beta reader A’s changes and tomorrow I’ll do beta reader B’s and so on. After applying all the necessary edits, I will be reading my manuscript a few more times until I feel it’s ready for my editor.

I am so thankful to my beta readers for giving me such honest and helpful feedback. This process has definitely helped me learn and grow as a writer.

Would I do it again? Absolutely.

An Excerpt for You

In honor of fall, I thought I’d share this excerpt from my upcoming novel, HIGH.

What is it about the fall that seems sentimental and romantic? There is something magical and mysterious about the way the leaves drop to the ground and how they shimmer in red, gold and brown, creating a blanket of memories. And as you watch the trees become bare, a sweet nostalgic feeling exists inside of you, as you stroll the sidewalks that glisten with traces of rain sprinkled across each path like little jewels. Your heart beats in a different rhythm as your thoughts dwell and wander about. You remember things that should be forgotten because they broke your heart once, and yet you allow them to linger for a while, for the sake of reminiscing. You parade with the hopeless romantics and the broken hearted down the streets, alone, reliving moments that once was. You hold on to these memories until the last day of fall, hoping that by winter, you will forget them all.

(Thoughts of Sonja Fines from HIGH, a novel by Corey M. P. (page 222)

Novel Update: Beta Readers

After editing my novel, HIGH, the last couple of months, I’ve decided it’s a good time to stop and let the Beta Readers take over. This morning, I took a deep breath and sent them my full manuscript.

As well all know getting feedback from others is an important part of the editing process. We can keep rewriting and editing our stories but until we let someone else read them, we will never know what works and what doesn’t.

So now that my manuscript is in the hands of my trusted beta readers, what’s next? Well, I will be focusing on getting my book cover done, and creating my marketing plan. I’m not quite sure how to begin, but regardless—I’m diving in.

Any tips?

 

Novel Update: Editing

“The first draft of anything is shit.”
-Ernest Hemingway

It’s been a while since I last updated you on the progress of my first novel. I spent the last few weeks rewriting and editing my full manuscript on my computer and I’m happy to say that I finally finished that part of the editing process this weekend.

The next step is printing the whole manuscript and reading it over again, this time on paper. It’s amazing to see what we catch from looking at printed copies that we may have missed on the computer.

Here’s a summary of my editing process:
Edit on screen (computer)
Edit off screen (on paper)
Apply necessary changes
Send manuscript to Beta Readers
Apply necessary changes based on feedback
Edit on screen and off screen
Send manuscript to proofreader and editor
Apply necessary changes
Edit on screen and off screen

I am aiming to finish the whole editing process by October.

Although editing can be time consuming, it’s an important part of the process and should not be skipped or taken lightly. As a soon-to-be self-published author, it’s my responsibility to deliver my book in a professional manner. I want my future readers to enjoy the story I have written and not be distracted by typos and other careless mistakes.

What’s your editing process?

30-Minute Flash Fiction Exercise

They say if you want to be a writer, you need to write every day. I do my best to work on my manuscript(s) every day and blog as often as I can, but because I feel like I need to push myself a little more, I have decided to give flash fiction a try.

30-Minute Flash Fiction Exercise
I’d like to start a new writing exercise on my blog, and I would love it if you could join me. As often as I can, I will post a title for a flash fiction we could all use. If you’d like to participate, simply write a 100-word flash fiction and post it on the comments portion of my 30-Minute Flash Fiction post. Although flash fiction can sometimes go up to 1,000 words, for this exercise, I’d like to stick to only 100 words.

How it works:
I will post a title for our exercise at least once a week. When you’re ready to write, challenge yourself and write your story in 30 minutes or less. It will be interesting to read what we end up writing, given the limited amount of time and the limited number of words. I believe this exercise will help us hone our writing skills and allow us to give each other feedback.

For today, the title will be:
3 a.m. 

My version:

The phone rings.
“Hello,” I answer with my eyes closed.
“It’s Matt.”
My eyes peel open. I glance at the clock.
“What are you doing calling me this late?”
“I need to see you.” His voice sounds desperate.
“What do you mean?”
“I need to see you, Sarah.”
“Not a good idea,” I reply.
“It never is.”
My heart starts racing.
“I’m across the street, at the 24-hour diner,” he says.
“Give me five minutes,” I whisper and hang up.
I stare into the dark.
“Who was that?” Ben turns to face me.
I crawl under the sheets.
“No one.”

 

I look forward to reading your flash fiction.

Writing Tip #12: Synonyms for Walk

While editing my manuscript, I noticed that I used the word “walk” numerous times. I didn’t want to change what my protagonist was doing because there was a reason why she was walking. So, instead of changing the action, I found other ways of saying, “walk”.

If you have the same problem, here is a list of synonyms for “walk”.

1. Amble: to walk leisurely
2. Bounce: to walk energetically
3. Clump: to walk clumsily
4. Hike: to go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise
5. Hobble: to walk unsteadily
6. Limp: to walk lamely, favoring one leg
7. March: to walk rhythmically alone or in a group
8. Pace: to walk nervously back and forth
9. Roam: to wander around
10. Stroll: to walk in a leisurely pace

For more synonyms for “walk”, check out the link below:
Walk