B. Jeanne Boyko

Wannabe Writer VS Life

B. Jeanne Boyko — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:33:18 +0000

In the midst of preparing my daughter to go to Africa this summer I haven't kept updating as much as I should, but I have been making baby steps of progress.

Lesson 4 is done, Lesson 5 well into. This one is bringing each scene down to a "VS" statement, ie Main Character's Mandate VS Her fear of Heights. This brings the scene conflict into sharp relief, we then describe what that basic conflict looks like and add Why It Matters.

It is harder and harder to find writers that I enjoy after learning these things - but the ones I do enjoy are SO wonderful!

Hopefully I will be one of those writers before too long.

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Every step matters. Scene cards went well today, I think I’m getting the hang of it. The ‘sequels’...

Work before work

B. Jeanne Boyko — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:03:33 +0000

Today I did significant work on Shurley English and completed Lesson Four in HTRYN.

The English is very work-intensive, although it's exciting to be filling gaps in my basic education. I'm not sure I should be pouring my limited brain-cells into that first thing on a Monday though, before getting to HTRYN. We'll try doing it the other way around tomorrow.

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Progressing again, and a tangent Today I finished Lesson Three, which just took more brain power than was available for...
So close! Almost made it to the end of Lesson Three, but life intruded. Will finish up...

So, What’s Your Book About?

B. Jeanne Boyko — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:21:53 +0000

Recovering from a week away for a family wedding, I pulled out Lesson Four again and spent some time writing a new "one sentence summary" of my first Nanonovel, Gift of the Ancients.

I had a one sentence summary for the story before I wrote it, but Holly Lisle's way of going about it is different than Randy Ingermanson's (I used his Snowflake method to plan the novel in the last ten days of October 2007). As usual, at first I resisted changing a pre-learned method, but I have to say I'm very pleased with the results. The new summary brings the story to life better. As I work on more things in coming weeks some things in the sentence may change, but overall I think we have a winner.

The purpose of a one sentence summary is a marketing tool. It's a fast but complete response to the question "So what is your book about?" and is your first line of attack in trying to interest an editor. It's important, and not easy to do. My original one sentence was:

Forbidden friends must reach and activate an ancient weapon to save their land from invasion.

Ingermanson recommends a 15-17 word limit to keep your sound-bite short. It's accurate, but doesn't hook the way I wanted it to.

In How To Revise Your Novel, Holly Lisle allows for 30 words, but advises including your Protag, Antag, Plot, Setting and Twist and breaks down just how to do it. The new sentence is:

A strong-willed troublemaker secretly discovers Ancient technology and must use it to protect low-tech Ympyra from powerful invaders, but an enemy becomes a friend and nothing works out like she thought.

The twist needs some work, but this is by far the stronger sentence. Anyone agree?

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Progressing again, and a tangent

B. Jeanne Boyko — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:00:57 +0000

Today I finished Lesson Three, which just took more brain power than was available for me to finish it quickly. I've read through Lesson Four and I'm excited to get to work on it as well.

Besides the How To Revise Your Novel course, to aid my writing I am also doing, with my homeschooling son, Shurley English Grade Seven, which promises that I will 'fear no grammar' upon completion.

This course requires some of my limited resources as well, and may slow my progress through HTRYN, but the time is right as I can teach two of us at once.

A week of travel begins for me tomorrow with little opportunity for writing, so updates will likely cease until the last week of May, when I can get back to proper work.

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Work before work Today I did significant work on Shurley English and completed Lesson Four in HTRYN. The...
Finished Step One! I got through Lesson One in one week, which feels great. Took a look at...
Every step matters. Scene cards went well today, I think I’m getting the hang of it. The ‘sequels’...

So close!

B. Jeanne Boyko — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:26:38 +0000

Almost made it to the end of Lesson Three, but life intruded. Will finish up tomorrow and begin Lesson Four on Monday.

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In Preparation of Progress This week I was able to read through my 2nd lesson and the demo that...

Every step matters.

B. Jeanne Boyko — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:27:37 +0000

Scene cards went well today, I think I'm getting the hang of it. The 'sequels' (see Techniques of the Selling Writer) are a little harder to handle, but I'm getting some kind of a grip on them.

It's encouraging to see the work still progressing even as I have low personal resources this week. Every step matters, even the small ones.

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Finished Step One! I got through Lesson One in one week, which feels great. Took a look at...
Progressing again, and a tangent Today I finished Lesson Three, which just took more brain power than was available for...
Wannabe Writer VS Life In the midst of preparing my daughter to go to Africa this summer I haven’t...

Begin Lesson Three

B. Jeanne Boyko — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:17:03 +0000

Almost a quarter of the way through Lesson Three, assigning each scene (defined as when something significant changes) a sentence describing all the essential elements of the scene, or noting missing elements.

I have a hard time going from big-picture to small-picture in terms of how significant things are. The first quarter introduces so many things, and while there are some dramatic twists to get the story going, other things are less obvious but still important.

I am hoping it will go easier tomorrow, where a lot more plot action takes place.

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Rolling Along I seem to be rolling along racking up the Nano-numbers fairly smoothly. Today I did...
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Happily on target

B. Jeanne Boyko — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:56:31 +0000

All caught up with my pages, looking forward to completing this lesson tomorrow!

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Passed 100 pages

B. Jeanne Boyko — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:41:27 +0000

Doing well on the Lesson 2 worksheets despite the slow start yesterday.

I'm catching on to the concept of looking for characters and items that are introduced for the first time, and marking them accordingly. It's possible to skim quite a lot this way, and I'm encouraged by how many times the story pulls me in during scenes I could be passing over.

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In Preparation of Progress This week I was able to read through my 2nd lesson and the demo that...
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Less is more?

B. Jeanne Boyko — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:40:35 +0000

Today I covered less ground in my manuscript than I would have liked, getting through 30 pages instead of 65. I'm happy with the quality of work, though.

I spent some time on the HTRYN forums, getting a better idea of how to proceed which was time well spent. I also got through most of my 'Main Character' worksheets, as so many of them appear in the first few chapters. These are much more time consuming than the other worksheets, which track the introduction of all items and characters in the story.

Sound like a lot of work? It is. But since I know what I'm looking for, the pages go by at a good rate.

I will look at the forums some more tomorrow, then see how far I can get. Still optimistic about finishing by Friday.

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Half done first pass of final draft I don’t consistently have the mental endurance I want for writing, but I conquered another...
Passed 100 pages Doing well on the Lesson 2 worksheets despite the slow start yesterday. I’m catching on...
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