Out-Takes, Silly Conversations, and a Couple of Things I've Learned about Editing

(Reposted from 05/10/08)

So, since JLY and I are endlessly entertained by our somewhat ridiculous writing process, we've decided to dedicate a pair of posts to a particularly specific behind-the-scenes look at what we do. When we write, we end up with an inordinate amount of silly quotes and what we like to call out-takes. We've each agreed to do a post that focuses on one of these.

Out-takes are naturally-occurring scenes that crop up when either JLY and I get a bit too sleep-deprived or silly for our own good and suggest a particularly ludicrous line. Usually, it's something that's funny (at least, to us), but it's too out of character or non-sensical to make the cut in editing.

Which, of course, isn't to say that a few out-take-type scenes don't eventually make it into a post or two. But, for the most part, we kill those lines and keep them in a nice little collection that usually goes wildly unappreciated. Until now. You can find some of our best out-takes on JLY's blog, wrapped up in a tidy summary of writing tips.

So, I figure I'd better follow along and add a comparable post of my own with some silly quotes that go along with few things that I've learned about editing. So after we have our first draft, when we're ready to polish it up, there are a few things I try to check for.

My Author Checklist:

1. Check the craft elements. It's easy to get caught up in the plot and the characters, and forget all about those little things like grammar and diction. But the difference between telling a story and telling a story well is usually in the little details that go mostly unnoticed.

For Example:

KM Ricker: Isn’t this sentence a little long?

KL: J.K. Rowling had a sentence that was a whole paragraph.

JLY: We looked it up in one of the books. That's the standard by which we measure our sentences.

KM Ricker: Yeah, but was the sentence all adverbs?

KL: ...Shut up!

So even though it's hard, and even though it's often no fun at all, go through and check the sentence structure. Check the clarity and the tone. Check all of the things that should be working together to make the meaning come across clearly.

2. Don't get lazy. It's good to use place-holders when the alternative is to get stuck thinking of the right synonym for "smash" or the right way to show a particular scene, but never take the easy way out once you're editing. Make every scene and every word count. I hate re-writing, but with few exceptions, the second draft is better. You have a clearer understanding of what the scene is about and you already know where it's going, so it's easier to get there.

For Example:

JLY: What should we name the section where Fell fights Phaeton?

KL: ... Fight!

JLY: ...

KL: With an exclamation! "FIGHT!"

JLY: How about "Defending Dove"?

KL: ... Ah. So that's why you name the scenes.

3. Balance the writing. The best scenes have a combination of description, action, and dialog as well as humor and seriousness. Personally, I'm not particularly fond of descriptions. I'd much rather write action or dialog, and I often can't even "see" a character until KM Ricker throws us a picture. I usually need JLY to prod me into realizing exactly how little I know about what my corner of the SFA world looks like, but I'm trying to get better at that whole description thing. So, ask the questions, or keep someone around who will ask them for you, and push you to "see" everything.

For Example:

JLY: We should describe how Dove looks at the Winter Ball. Wait, what does Dove look like?

KL: ... What do you think Dove looks like?

JLY: Isn't she your character?

KL: Uh... Maybe she has white hair?

And, of course, Dove ended up with nothing like white hair, but it was the process of starting to "see" her that led us to that point.

When it comes down to it, creating SFA with JLY and KM Ricker has been fun, and it's taught me quite a bit about writing and editing. For me, the act of writing is about turning off the critical part of my thought process, and just putting words down without agonizing over the details. Editing, on the other hand, is about weighing each word and sentence, and making everything the best it can be.

So, if anyone out there is thinking about writing, I'd say stop thinking and start writing. Go back to thinking when you're ready to edit. Or, find people like JLY and KM Ricker who will help you do a lot of your thinking... even if that help takes the form of rather troublesome questions that you haven't bothered to ask yourself, much less answer.

<3

KL

Editing is Key

(Reposted from 05/06/08)

You know you've been gone too long, when your co-author says, "You're blog hasn't been updated. People will think you're dead."

Well, I'm not, and after a couple months' hiatus, I think it's about time to get back on track, and start updating this blog as I said I would at the beginning.

In reading KL's blog post about "making [our work] pretty", I was reminded of all the moments we've been editing and have run into things that need to be fixed. It's very important as a writer to go over your work and look for subtle nuances of meaning.

Author Checklist:

1. Make sure you're using the right words. When editing, KL and I take turns trying to brainstorm words that are appropriate for the scene and the character.

For Example:

KL: Well, 'Rai thought as he flopped…'… 'Flopped' is too girly. What should he do?

JLY: 'Posed manfully'? 'Boyfully'? 'Full of boy'? 'Skipped'? 'Traipsed'?

KL: You're not even trying.

JLY: 'Dove'? 'Conquered'? 'Vanquished'?

KL: ...No.

2. Make sure your characters stay in character. Sometimes when we're caught up in things, if we don't think about it, our characters will start to sound the same. Or, not at all like themselves. In this scene, Rakam speaks the way KL and I normally do.

For Example:

“Who doesn’t like me?” Rai feebly joked, hoping to get a laugh out of Wisteria.

“I can tell you who doesn’t not like you.” Rakam said. “Wisteria, that’s who.”

3. Make sure you make sense. I have a tendency to write late at night, and sometimes it shows. This gem is one of KL and my favorites. It's good to have a co-author or beta reader to call you out on things.

For Example:

"So, it seems like everyone's paired off for the Winter Ball by now." Rakam said.

Wisteria stiffened. She and Rakam had come to some unspoken agreement that as long as he was trailing her, they didn't speak. Well, it was actually more than an unspoken agreement. Wisteria had made it into a rather outspoken statement on multiple occasions. Still, Rakam insisted on talking to her.

JLY: I don't know if I was trying to be funny, or if I was just tired.

KL: It works on so many levels. It's an unspoken agreement not to speak. But then it's not actually unspoken. And, Rakam doesn't even agree.

JLY: ...So, actually, it's a very spoken disagreement

So, these are just some basic rules for writing and editing. I'll post more when I think of them. I think writing, above all, is a process, and while it's easy to get discouraged when the right words don't come or when you can't get into character, it's important to be able to step back and put things in perspective. Above all, enjoy your writing, and don't be afraid to laugh.

Take Care,

JLY

PS. You can be an author too!

The Game

(Reposted from 03/29/08)

As you might expect, with all the action scenes, writing The Game was particularly fun for me. But, aside from the inherent excitement of writing scenes with ice orbs and magic swords, I realized that there are two things that make SFA particularly enjoyable for me to write.

The first is that whatever fight scenes or conflicts we include, they always move the plot forward--bring people closer, push them apart, set up the next event, etc. Of course, that also makes it a little tricky to write, since we have to pack as much into each scene as possible. But, it makes it worth it when we come out with a good scene or two.

The second great thing about writing SFA is that the characters aren't stagnant. They're only fifteen, and they're still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. This chapter perhaps showed this better than the previous chapters. The School for Adventurers kids have been there for a few months, they're beginning to change and adapt to life at Eastridge. They're starting to understand more about themselves. Overall, it's just fun to write, and hopefully... fun to read?

...And, well, of course there's a third factor that makes SFA enjoyable... and that's getting to write with JLY. One of the great things about these latest scenes (and the new upcoming scenes for the next couple of weeks) is that JLY and I have written them mostly together. Even though we're both pretty busy (what, with that not-quitting-our-day-jobs, and all), we've both been freer than, say, when we were still at our respective colleges, so we've managed to write most of these scenes collectively. And, as luck would have it, writing with JLY turns out to be incredibly amusing... well, at least, it seems incredibly amusing at the time.

A typical day in the collaborative writing of SFA:

JLY typing Wisteria's line: 'And, in what realm am I afraid of you?'

KL: "...All right, let's italicize the 'you'."

JLY types: 'And, in what realm am I afraid of you?'

KL: "...."

JLY: "Oops. Wait! that worked out so much better than I originally planned!"

Then again, what isn't funny when you've had five hours of sleep and spent the past three hours writing?

But, maybe that's what keeps us writing.

Ah, good times.

KL

The Winter Ball

(Reposted from 01/15/08)

So we're finally at the Winter Ball. Or at least, at the beginning of the Winter Ball story arch. JLY and I have been waiting a long time for this. We originally planned for the Winter Ball to take place a chapter sooner, but there were some loose ends to tie up, so we had to push it back.

One of the trickier things about writing for a world as large as SFA is that there are some things that JLY and I know (like Averi is popular, Annalise has a a lot of social influence, or, Torrent, if pushed, could kill someone with his bare hands) that we take as given facts that everyone intrinsically knows. And, sometimes we forget that unless there's a specific scene illustrating it, these little facts might not come across entirely clearly.

Which is how we ended up detouring for awhile in some of the scenes of Chapter 5: Nobility, and perhaps explains why I have so much hostility towards that chapter. So, at any rate, while we expected to get to the Winter Ball much sooner, it's good at least that we're there now.

For one thing, the Winter Ball requires a date, which puts each of the characters in the tricky situation of finding someone to go with. Even though the whole social side of SFA is really more JLY's thing than mine, I still find this fun. And hopefully, as the chapter goes on, I won't be the only one entertained by it...

--KL

Averi's Rune

(Reposted from 12/27/07)

I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I like to believe that there are certain scenes in writing that you can't help putting your heart into... The scenes that you see so clearly that it doesn't matter if you have to feel your way around in the dark before and after them. These are, I suppose, the scenes that make it worth the trouble to write.

I'll be the first to admit that SFA isn't entirely planned out from start to finish, and that JLY and I are often surprised by the twists and turns that develop. But there are other parts that seem so intrinsically true and real that I can't help believing in them.

For every chapter of SFA, there are a handful of scenes that feel this way. In particular, the plot twist of Averi's Undead Rune always one of those scenes for me... a scene that anchored me in the SFA world.

Or maybe that sounds silly.

What I mean is that I loved that scene, and I hope it shows through in some small way.

When JLY and I started writing SFA, the story began as a few random clips of various characters. Delighted with the idea of a princess with an Undead Rune, I rushed through about 5 pages of scrambled draft-quality writing to get to this scene. Well, and a scene after it, but that'll come much later.

For now, it's enough to see that we've finally reached that scene and connected all the dots leading up to it.

The Undead Rune

(Reposted from 12/04/07)

For anyone familiar with my fondness towards video games and action movies, it’s probably no surprise that my writing tends more towards action and less towards… everything else. And despite the fact that I’m well aware of how important “everything else” tends to be, I’ll confess that I usually grumble mutinously whenever JLY reminds me that we need more dialog or plot-related scenes and less senseless violence.

And I have to admit that Chapter 5: Nobility, was one that I grumbled particularly loudly about. Not that Nobility wasn't a nice chapter. I understand the importance of it, and I enjoyed writing it, but not as much as, say Chapter 6: The Undead Rune, for reasons that I imagine will quickly become apparent.

Each chapter of SFA is made up of scenes written in two different ways. Most of the time, one of us will write the scene and send it to the other person for writing. Usually, we talk beforehand so we both know what the scene is basically about and how it fits into the chapter and the story as a whole. Even though we've gotten to the point where we know each other's style (and the SFA style) well enough to blend the writing styles together, there's still a different energy to the scenes.

However, SFA is also made up of a second type of writing. There are some scenes that JLY and I write together -- sitting next to each other, taking turns typing and talking-- and these always end up being my favorite. We have this remarkable tendency to keep each other in line... and not always, as you might expect, with myself as the advocate of action and JLY proposing more dialog.

Instead, it's more a process of writing and refining. We both throw out rough ideas and then refine them. A typical writing session would hear something along the lines of:

"Something about how today is different than other days because... there's a messenger. But make that pretty."

Yes, we can come up with any string of incoherent half-thoughts and assume it makes complete sense as long as we conclude with make that pretty.

And now you know the secret of writing.

Well, at least the secret of writing SFA.

Take care,

KL

Beginning to Write

(Reposted from 11/26/07)

KL and I have different approaches to writing a scene, a fact which becomes most apparent when we write together. KL likes to dive in head-first and plunge into her writing. I generally have to mull over all my ideas before getting anything down on the page. Our writing sessions usually consist of KL saying, “That sounds good to me”, and me saying, “Perhaps we should think about it some more before we move on.”

Personally, I think KL’s got it right. (Though, I will say some forethought is required.)

One of the most important things about being a writer is to remember that you actually have to write. I used to scoff in disbelief when I read in books on writing by famous authors that a true writer should set aside a small portion of every day and simply practice writing. I laugh now because it’s true. Writing is not just some magical skill that’s borne from a good imagination and a spark of inspiration (though those usually help). As with everything, learning how to write well requires mostly hard work.

Having said that, where does one start?

A blank page can be really intimidating.

I’m both a perfectionist and a writer, and while it may seem like the former should help the latter, being too much of a perfectionist is just debilitating to the writing process. I think too much, which isn’t always helpful. And, in those cases, I always find myself returning to my 2007 New Years’ resolution of “Write first, revise later.”

You can’t really make a scene better if it doesn’t exist in the first place.

I think some of the hardest scenes I’ve had to deal with when writing SFA were scenes involving Rai Ravin. My conception of Rai Ravin was of this really charming guy character—the kind of boy in high school that all the girls swooned over and that all the guys were friends with. My problem when writing Rai Ravin was trying to figure out how to channel his character because I found him a little intimidating to write for. I used to complain to KL that Charming Male Rai Ravin would be really difficult to capture, seeing as how I was neither charming nor male.

But, really, it’s not good to be intimidated by characters that exist only in your head, and writing Rai Ravin really just boiled down to hammering the scenes out, no matter how badly the first time around, to see how things would play out.

Rough drafts are supposed to be just that—rough. And, hopefully, drafts get better.

So, eventually, Rai Ravin became a much more tangible and real character to me, someone that was much easier to write about. But, it really did take getting over the initial worry and distress of getting it perfectly the first time to get to that point.

Of course knowing this doesn’t necessarily mean I’m cured of my perfectionist streak, but I do try my best to follow my own good advice every now and then.

Thanks for reading,

J.L.Y.