Reversion of Rights: The rights to your intellectual property can be returned to you. The terms should be spelled out once your rights have been returned, you are free to do with them whatever you choose. You can sell them again or publish them yourself. Please Note: Often a new publisher or distributor will ask for proof that your rights have been returned to you.
Royalty: When you contract with a publisher, you are giving them the rights to sell your book. They pay you a portion of the money they earned, which is your royalty. If the publisher gave you an advance, that money must be earned before you’re paid royalties. Typically, traditional publishing houses pay twice a year. The terms of payment should be spelled out clearly in your negotiated contract.
STET: Let it stand. This word is used during the editing process to indicate a change should be ignored.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 249
Mirror Mirror
JILL: This is one of the oldest pieces of advice I have ever received and it’s still true today. Don’t have your character look into a mirror to relay their description to the reader.
This tactic has been played out. Allow the details of your character’s attire to come out naturally though dialogue, narrative, or someone else’s point of view (POV.)
There are exceptions, of course. A good example would be a main character who hates their appearance; they can’t stop staring at themselves, lamenting every feature. Or a plot that revolves around beauty.
If you do decide to avoid the self-mirror-exam, there are other ways to show readers what your characters look like or what they are wearing.
Does a main character hate ties, but wears one to visit his grandmother? Show him adjusting it with a little thought about Granny.
Are your heroine’s clothes designer, hand sewn or from the thrift store? Ill-fitting? Itchy? Let her adjust and think about why.
Is there a contrast between skin/hair/eye color and a color found nearby the character? Does their hair or eye color remind your narrator of something?
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 250
Want or Need?
What your characters want isn’t always what they need. They can crave something, obtain it, and realize they were wrong, that this new job or move will never fix all their problems.
We love to surprise the main characters with what they really need, dropping clues for the reader along the way.
GENA: In The Glass Queen, the heroine is desperate to obtain her father’s approval. She thinks if she works hard enough, she can earn his love. Over the course of the book, however, she learns that love isn’t earned but freely given, and that she doesn’t need someone else’s approval to be worthy of anything.
JILL: In Fun & Games, the hero believes he wants revenge on his absent father. By going after his father, however, he ends up pushing everyone away, and realizes his real need is to accept that he himself is worthy of someone else’s love.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 251
I Just Didn’t Love It
JILL: A few years ago, a friend of mine shared a rejection letter she received. The agent wrote, “I just didn’t love it.”
Ouch!
But what does that mean?
As someone who trained as a journalist, I feel the burning frustration of that question. Was it the writing? Was it the characterization? Problems with the plot, perhaps? Those, I can fix. Not loving something… not so much.
Everything about a book can be perfect—the plot, grammar, and characterization, etc.—but none of that matters if the writing is passionless. I know I’m not alone in watching a movie or beginning a new series that should hit every one of my hot buttons, but it just left me with a sense of meh. So, I started a list of things that have the power to take us away from the creative passion found in our storytelling.
Ruthless self-editing can make your prose tight, but is your aim for perfection also deleting your enthusiasm?
Avoiding risks and following writing “rules” in an effort to make your work rejection proof. (An example of this is hearing a “rule,” even a wrong rule, and considering it gospel. Like: Never use the word “was.” It’s passive. Wrong! Sometimes a sentence needs “was,” and that’s that.)
Listening to your inner editor and allowing self doubt to keep you from writing the way you want to write.
Writing everything but what you love.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 252
Reflect and Catch Up
So you want to write a novel but you’re having a hard time starting. You’ve read books on plotting and craft. You’ve joined writer groups and soaked up the nuggets of advice, but you’re still not sure what to do. Am I a panster? Am I a plotter? You have no clue what you are. My advice is to just write. Sit down in a comfy place, open up your laptop and just start typing stream of consciousness. Don’t worry about where it fits into the plot. Don’t start at chapter one if you have a certain scene in mind. Maybe just put down on paper a few minutes of dialogue between two characters. Whatever it is, just start typing. And don’t stop. Don’t bother to correct your spelling, your spacing or your grammar. Just keep going. Let it flow. Spit it all out and don’t stop until you draw a blank. There you go… you’ve started writing your book. This may sound flip, but sometimes the biggest block we have in writing is having confidence that we can do it and that can have you staring at a blank screen for hours. You have to just push past that initial fear and jump into the deep end. You might be surprised that what comes out is really good. It might be garbage, but if it is, learn from it and correct it. Start writing again. Eventually, you will learn what you are… a plotter or a pantser or something in between, and you can develop your style as you grow in confidence and skill. But you have to start!!!!!
–New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett
Day 253
Today Is the Day: Shared Experience
Remember when we asked you to write a scene showing a shared experience between your main characters? Have you included it in your story? Is today an opportunity to create one with the antagonist and a main character?
If you’re having trouble coming up with a shared experience, we’ll jumpstart a brainstorming session with three possible ideas:
Lock two enemies in a confined space to force them to work together, building bonds that can be tested later.
Have two friends head into battle against an enemy, solidifying an already established bond.
Show two opposites in the same scene, dealing with the same problem, how it affects them differently, and their varying reactions, as well as how it affects them similarly.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 254
Head Them Off At The Pass..ive
Passive Voice Versus Active Voice
As you write, it helps to be aware of passive versus active voice.
Active voice: Subject + Verb (action) + Object (the receiver of the action)
Jill and Gena are going to write a book today.
Subject—Jill and Gena
Action—write
Object—book
In passive voice, the verb emphasizes the action rather than the subject.
Example: Today, a book is going to be written by Jill and Gena.
Active can invite a reader into your story, while passive can tell a story to the reader. Both have their purpose and place.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Bonus assignment: Keep an eye out for passive voice as you write, but especially as you edit.
Day 255
Grammar Basics: Lied
The word “lied” has only one meaning: To tell an untruth. It is never the past tense of “lie down.”
You wouldn’t say: I lied down. He lied down. She lied down. We al
l lied down.
The word “lie,” however, is a different story. But would you use “lie” or “lay,” that is the question?
When referencing the action of reclining in a horizontal position, “lie/lying” works.
If you are putting something else down, you would go with “lay/laying.”
“Lay” needs an object for the action. The something else you’re laying down. “Lie” does not need an object for the action, because you—or whoever—is performing the act of reclining.
Your assignment: Double your daily word count! Write roughly 500 words for your novel.
Day 256
What’s In A Name?
Wondering whether or not to write with a pen name? That is a personal decision, and you’ll have to make it sooner rather than later. There are pros and cons to both options.
We’re going to explore the reasons to use one.
The first benefit is the ability to keep professional identities separate. For instance, if you’re an elementary school teacher but also a horror writer, you may not want your two worlds colliding.
GENA: I opted not to go with a pen name. (Blaze Champagne, anyone?) When I first started writing with a goal of publication, I had two little babies. By the time my first book hit bookstores, both kids were in elementary school. Because I write sexy romance novels, a handful of moms decided I “worked in the porn industry,” and their children were not allowed to play with mine. I attended a field trip and oh man, if those moms could have stoned me, they would have done it. I guess their snide insults were enough, though. By that point, I had toughened up. A windfall of negative reviews will do that to you. And you will get negative reviews. Everyone does, even your favorite authors. But that’s a lesson for another day. When my kids got older, other kids took my books to school to read the sexiest passages aloud in front of everyone. If I could go back, I would use a pen name simply to spare my children the teasing.
A second benefit is helping you maintain your privacy. A true blessing! A five second search on the internet can yield the names of your family members, as well as where you work and live. For your sense of safety, you want fans to make contact on your terms.
Also, in some genres, males sell better. That’s just a fact. In other genres, women sell better. Some writers will give themselves a more masculine or feminine name, depending on their needs. Some will give themselves a neutral name.
Just be aware: When using a pen name, your two worlds can accidentally blur together. Double check that contracts and tax information reflect your LEGAL name. Otherwise, consider using your pen name in all other communication. Sometimes editors and professional acquaintances will slip up and say your legal name on social media or public gatherings.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 257
Formatting Dialogue Tags
Something we are asked quite a bit is how to format dialogue tags.
Here are examples of common mistakes.
Wrong: “I’m writing a book.” She said.
Wrong: “I’m writing a book.” she said.
Correct: “I’m writing a book,” she said.
When adding a dialogue tag, end your dialogue with a comma, a quote mark, then the tag. You only use a period if you are not adding a tag.
Wrong: “Are you writing a book?” She asked.
Correct: “Are you writing a book?” she asked.
When using a question mark, do not capitalize the speaker’s pronoun.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 258
You Can’t Write Yesterday
JILL: To tell you the truth, this was going to be a much longer entry. I had written a lot of stuff (in my mind) about watching my children overcoming procrastination or discussing regret for the things left undone.
But really, what are you and I both waiting for?
Write.
Now.
Write now, right now! Tomorrow, we’ll both look back at yesterday and smile.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 259
Reflect and Catch Up
There are a million ways to write a book and a million ways people will tell you how to do it. The best advice I ever got was to listen to everyone, then take what parts I liked to try to use for myself. If they worked, great. If they didn't, look for something else. Because at the end of the day, there's no right way to write a book. There's only your way. I've written over a hundred books without plotting a single detail. That's what works for me.
I sit down every day and write. I used to have a quota of pages—20 a day. Writing 5 days a week, that's 100 pages in a week. I did that for over a decade with great results. However, recently I switched to meeting word count instead, and I'm actually getting more writing done each day. So my second piece of advice is to not get too set in your ways. Always be willing to try something new, be it writing a new genre or just changing up how you write slightly, because you never know what kind of rewards it can bring.
—New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant
Day 260
Today Is The Day: Backstory
In the first weeks of All Write Already, we challenged you to write different events that have affected your main character in the past. Have you included parts of that backstory? Have you connected it throughout the story, showing how it affects him/her?
Did you change your mind as you got deeper into the story and developed a new backstory as you wrote your tale? Is this new backstory reflected in the beginning of the book? If not, write yourself a note, so you’ll remember to fix it later.
If you are writing a standalone novel, remember to resolve any remaining backstory issues by the end of the book. If resolution is your goal, of course.
Your assignment: Double your daily word count! Write roughly 500 words for your novel.
Day 261
Will I Have To Do This Every Time?
Reading about RANGE and SEARCH and character interviews and world building, you may worry that you must do this kind of detailed pre-writing for absolutely every book. Don’t. Like all other skills, the more you write the better you’ll become. Most likely you’ll internalize themes and tropes. Soon, you may be riffing ideas like an accountant cranks numbers, the skills to have your characters arguing and battling against hard choices at your fingertips.
The more you write, the more you’ll notice your strengths and weaknesses as an author. Are readers loving the banter you create? Did your editor suggest adding more depth to your world building? With more books written, you’ll have a better understanding about where to focus your learning.
The number one way humans learn is through repeated exposure. (We’ll talk more about learning styles in the weeks to come.) But humans should also be lifelong learners. Always challenge yourself to keep your skills fresh. Learn when to listen to others about your story and when to ignore their suggestions. What will make your story better and what is merely their personal preference? Tastes change, styles change, we change.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 262
Show Versus Tell
What is the difference between “show” and “tell,” and how do you fix it if you’ve got a problem?
Showing is when you let your readers see/experience events as they unfold. Readers are in the moment with the characters, feeling what they feel, seeing what they see. Telling is when you explain something that happened or is happening.
There is a time for showing and a time for telling. For example, if you’re wanting to convey a quickness of time, you could say “Three weeks later.” No one wants to read about three weeks of boring stuff as they wait for the action to start. If you are writing an action scene, you’ll lose a sense of immediacy and urgency if you tell it rather than show it.
Usually the time for showing occurs more often than the time for telling. (Or should.).
Telling: I’d never been hurt so badly.
Showing: Hurt seared me.
All Write Already: Year Of Your Book Page 20
