Reflecting on the A to Z Challenge 2013

I did it. I somehow managed to complete the A to Z blogging challenge. I only started this blog in January so this was my first year taking part and I am so glad that I did. Don't get me wrong, it was tough, really tough, but I have discovered so many great blogs to follow as well as gaining a few followers of my own.

Things that went well:

• I managed to make it through the whole month without missing a single post (although a couple did come later in the day instead of early morning as normal).
• I gained some great followers.
• I found some brilliant blogs that I am now following.
• Before this challenge the comments on my blog were few and far between and it was beginning to feel a little lonely over here, so getting comments and feedback on every post was a huge confidence boost for me.

Things that didn't:

• April was a busy month, I went on holiday for a week, my husband was called back to sea early (he's in the merchant navy) leaving me to plan and host a party for 30 screaming 4yr olds all alone, I was ill for a whole week and my 4yr old was ill for the following week. Although the holiday was planned and all my posts for that week prepared in advance, everything else was unexpected and I was constantly playing catch-up.
• Catching up on the comments that were left while I was on holiday has taken longer than I expected (see point below, and if I haven't got to your's yet, I promise I will soon).
• I returned from holiday to discover my laptop had died and have been unable to revive it. Luckily I still have my old laptop but it is slower than slow so each time I try to open someone's blog it takes about ten minutes to load and frequently crashes while leaving comments (I will hopefully be getting a new one next month).
• I didn't manage to visit as many other blogs as I would have liked during April (see point above), but I am continuing the make my way through the list.

Would I do it again?

Definitely. It may have been hard work, but it was worth every minute. I will hopefully be a little more prepared next year though!

How about you? Did you take part in the challenge? How did it go for you? Will you be taking part next year? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

Z is for Zzzz

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Tiredness can be one of the biggest hindrances to your creativity. After being up with a sick child the past few nights, trust me, I know how it feels! If you're tired and worn out, give yourself a break. Turn off the computer and give yourself an early night, catch up on those zzz's. Your brain will thank you for it.

Mental fatigue can be just as draining. April has been an extremely busy month for me, especially with the A to Z Challenge, and I know when my brain needs some shut down time. So, for the rest of the week I will be taking a small blogging hiatus to recharge those batteries. I will still reply to comments and play catch up visiting all of your amazing blogs, but I won't be posting again until next Monday.

How about you? Are you in need of some down time? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

Y is for Yearning

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What do you yearn to be/do? If you are reading this blog I am guessing the answer is a writer. Now think about how this affects what you do on a daily basis. What we yearn for impacts our lives, who we are, how we act, our relationships, the choices we make.

Now think about your characters. What do they yearn for? How will this affect their lives and those around them? This doesn't have to be the same as their story goal, but it is integral to who they are. You don't necessarily have to include this information in the story, but being aware of it yourself will help you understand your characters on a much deeper level and this will come across in the writing. Your characters will feel more fully formed and three-dimensional.

What do your characters yearn for? Let me know in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you.

X is for X-ray

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You've written your first draft and let it sit for a while, now what?

One of the first things I do is perform an x-ray to ensure the skeleton/structure of the story is intact.

I very often write a scene list in the planning stages before ever writing a single word, but I rarely stick to this completely as things change and develop during the drafting stage. So, on this first read through I write up a new scene list, making a note of all the important things that happen in each scene. Once this is complete I can see the bare bones of the story all in one place. I will highlight the scenes where all the basic plot points (inciting incident, turning point, climax etc) take place in a different colour and then I will be able to see at a glance whether the structure is balanced.

For example, if the inciting incident is happening too late then I know I need to either rearrange the scenes in the beginning to bring it forward, or delete them altogether and start later in the story.

I can also tell by looking over this list whether there are any plot holes that need to be addressed, whether the pace needs adjusting, and whether the character arcs are complete. I can also play around with the order of the scenes, without actually changing the manuscript, to see what would work best.

Having the whole novel compressed into a scene list like this also helps you to focus on the plot and character arcs without getting distracted by correcting a bit of dialogue here, a spelling mistake there, or adding some description. It also makes it easier to cut a scene when you aren't looking at all those words you spent hours over.

Once the bones of the story have been straightened out and put in the right place I know the structure works and I can now focus on making the writing itself better.

How about you? What process do you use when you begin the revision stage? Do you perform an x-ray? Please share in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you.

W is for Wonder

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Many people have said that to be truly creative we need to maintain a childlike wonder for everything around us. I've been raiding the Goodreads quotes again and here are a few of my favourites listed under 'wonder'.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand 
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour.” 
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
― Franz Kafka

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” 
― Albert Einstein

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” 
― W.B. Yeats

“You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down” 
― Charles Chaplin

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” 
― Socrates

“Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.” 
― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.”
― Betty Smith, Joy in the Morning

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time.”
― Diane Ackerman

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” 

― Gerry Spence, How to Argue & Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Everyday

And to finish it off, a poem:

“A Second Childhood.”

When all my days are ending
And I have no song to sing,
I think that I shall not be too old
To stare at everything;
As I stared once at a nursery door
Or a tall tree and a swing.

Wherein God’s ponderous mercy hangs
On all my sins and me,
Because He does not take away
The terror from the tree
And stones still shine along the road
That are and cannot be.

Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for wine,
But I shall not grow too old to see
Unearthly daylight shine,
Changing my chamber’s dust to snow
Till I doubt if it be mine.

Behold, the crowning mercies melt,
The first surprises stay;
And in my dross is dropped a gift
For which I dare not pray:
That a man grow used to grief and joy
But not to night and day.

Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for lies;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Enormous night arise,
A cloud that is larger than the world
And a monster made of eyes.

Nor am I worthy to unloose
The latchet of my shoe;
Or shake the dust from off my feet
Or the staff that bears me through
On ground that is too good to last,
Too solid to be true.

Men grow too old to woo, my love,
Men grow too old to wed;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Hung crazily overhead
Incredible rafters when I wake
And I find that I am not dead.

A thrill of thunder in my hair:
Though blackening clouds be plain,
Still I am stung and startled
By the first drop of the rain:
Romance and pride and passion pass
And these are what remain.

Strange crawling carpets of the grass,
Wide windows of the sky;
So in this perilous grace of God
With all my sins go I:
And things grow new though I grow old,
Though I grow old and die.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Poems of G. K. Chesterton

Do you maintain a childlike sense of wonder when you are writing? Or do you have any more quotes to add? Share in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you.

V is for Villains

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We all love a good villain in our fiction. The following quotes all contain things that should be kept in mind when crafting the villain in your story:

"Evil, when we are in it's power, is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty." Simone Weil

"All Cruelty springs from weakness." Seneca

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

"I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, not matter how twisted. They're motivated." Russell Crowe

"Life is not that simple, and people can't be boxed into being either heroes or villains." Jessica Hagedorn

"You can figure out what the villain fears by his choice of weapons." Connie Brockway, The Bridal Season

"A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development." Agnes Repplier

"An excellent man, like precious metal, is in every way invariable; A villain, like the beams of a balance, is always varying, upwards and downwards." John Locke

"The villain of any story is often the most compelling character." John Hodgman

"Evil is a point of view." Anne Rice, Interview with a Vampire

"All things truly wicked start from an innocence." Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

"No one becomes depraved all at once." Juvenal, Satires

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." Blaise Pascal

Do you have any good villain quotes to share? Let me know in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you.

U is for Undermining

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Unfortunately in this business you will likely come up against any number of people who will undermine you
and it can be so easy to take it to heart. Don't. No-one should have that kind of power over you. By undermining you they are just projecting their own insecurities onto you. It may simply be that they don't understand why you want to write, and very few non-writers ever will truly understand that drive.

It doesn't matter what other people think. If you want to write, then write, otherwise you are undermining yourself. We all have our own paths to follow.

"Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special." Brian Dyson

Have you ever felt undermined? How did you cope with it? Share in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

T is for Talent

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Here are a few of my favourite quotes about talent:

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads." Erica Jong

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What seperates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." Stephen King

"No one respects a talent that is concealed." Desiderius Erasmus

"Genius is talent set on fire by courage." Henry Van Dyke

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge

"There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower." Honore de Balzac

"I see the notion of talent as quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application, industry, assiduity, will, will, will, desire, desire, desire." Gordon Lish

"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." Thomas Jefferson

"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage." Sidney Smith

"It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous." Robert Benchley

Do you have any favourite quotes about talent? Please share in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you.

R is for Reading

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This post was originally meant to be about the way reading can improve your writing, but, while looking for the exact wording of the famous Stephen King quote ("If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time [or the tools] to write.") I came across so many others about the act of reading that I have had to make a slight change. Reading as it relates to writing will be saved for a future date, today I want to share with you just some of the brilliant quotes I found.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading." William Styron

"Books are a uniquely portable magic." Stephen King

"Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times? Mo had said ... "As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells ... and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower ... both strange and familiar." Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul." Joyce Carol Oates

"Books are like mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you." Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind

"For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die." Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

"Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book." Jane Smiley

"It's not that I don't like people. It's just that when I'm in the company of others - even my nearest and dearest - there always comes a moment when I'd rather be reading a book." Maureen Corrigan

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." W Somerset Maugham

All of these quotes were on the Goodreads page Quotes about Reading. There are over 2,000 on there and I had to stop at 90 before I lost an entire day, view it at your own peril.

Do you have favourite quotes about reading? Share in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

Q is for Quality vs Quantity

How do you measure a successful writing session?

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Quality

You may have spent hours or just a few minutes on your wip, and your word count may be low, but what you have written is of a high standard. It may take you longer to complete a first draft, but you will likely need fewer edits.

Quantity

You have produced a high word count and will get through a first draft much faster, however the writing will need heavy editing.

For me, I prefer to go for quantity. Aiming for quality in a first draft is a sure-fire way to send my internal editor into overdrive and block me up completely and nothing would ever get finished. As both Nora Roberts and Jodi Picoult have said - "You can't edit a blank page." By shutting the internal editor off and just writing down as much as I can I do at least end up with a finished draft that I can then let my editor loose on.

I was talking this over with my brother last night (he's a writer too) and he said something true that I am sure you have all heard at one time - quantity breeds quality. The more we write, the better the writing becomes.

What do you think? Do you aim for quality in a writing session, or just get down as much as possible and work on the quality later? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

N is for Number (word count)

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What's your number?

There seems to be a lot of focus in the writing world on the number of words or pages you can/should write on a daily basis. Some may find 1,000 words a day to be too easy, others too hard. Some days I can write 3,000 words no problem (those days are rare), and other days I struggle to write even one sentence.

If I am on a deadline I am very strict with myself and have a set daily word count goal and keep track using a spreadsheet. Without that ticking clock I am much more lax and just aim to do something each day that moves me further forward, even if it's just a brainstorming session.

How about you? Do you have a set word count goal for the day/week? Do you try to write it all in one session or spread it out throughout the day? Do you keep spreadsheets? Leave a reply in the comments section below, I'd love to hear from you and learn what other people are up to.

I'm going to be away on holiday until 17th April, but I have scheduled all the posts for while I'm away. I will try and log in once a day to check everything is running smoothly and reply to as many comments as I can. If you leave a comment I will visit your blog when I return and reciprocate. Happy A to Z'ing.

M is for Motivational Quotes

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We all need a little motivating every now and then, so to help you through the middle part of the month,
here are ten of my favourite motivational quotes to get you writing.

"Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the centre of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write, just write, just write." Natalie Goldburg

"Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style." P.D. James

"Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around 'getting ready' the more time and opportunity we'll have to sabotage ourselves. Resistance loves it when we hesitate, when we over-prepare.The answer: plunge in." Steven Pressfield

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." Henry David Thoreau

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." William Wordsworth

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." Wayne Gretzky

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Roald Dahl

"Those who wish to sing always find a song." Swedish Proverb

"The secret of it all is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood of the moment - to put things down without deliberation - without worrying about their style - without waiting for a fit time or place. I always worked that way. I took the first scrap of paper, the first doorstep, the first desk, and write - wrote, wrote ... By writing at the instant the very heartbeat of life is caught." Walt Whitman

"The only thing that stands between you and your dreams is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible." Joel Brown

Do you have any favourite quotes to get you motivated? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

I'm going to be away on holiday until 17th April, but I have scheduled all the posts for while I'm away. I will try and log in once a day to check everything is running smoothly and reply to as many comments as I can. If you leave a comment I will visit your blog when I return and reciprocate. Happy A to Z'ing.

C is for Character Worksheets

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Crafting three-dimensial characters is a must in this business, but how do you go about it?

A lot of people swear by using character worksheets to help them get a better understanding of their characters. I have never stuck to one list in particular, but take bits from different worksheets that I think are relevant to the character and story that I am writing. I have included the links to five of the best worksheets that I have found below.

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.co.uk/p/character-worksheet.html

http://www.the-writers-craft.com/support-files/character.pdf

http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun98/lazy2.htm

http://www.jennymeyerhoff.com/CharacterWorksheet.pdf

http://www.tarakharper.com/k_char2.htm

I find it really useful to put my characters in the hot seat. I have a couple of basic questions written down to get me started and then I just let the interview go where it will. I've often been amazed at what has come out of this exercise and how much more depth it has given to my characters. I don't just do this at the start of a project though. If I am stuck on a particular scene and I can't figure out why it isn't working, I take out a notebook and ask my characters. Try it, you may be surprised.

Another useful resource that I reference all the time is The Bookshelf Muse website. They have a character trait thesaurus that is second to none, as well physical attributes and a whole host of really interesting posts. Seriously, you need to bookmark their blog.

Do you ever use character worksheets? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

B is for Blogging

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Like everything in life, blogging has it's good points and it's bad, and these will differ from person to
person depending on your reason for blogging in the first place and how you use it.

This post will list the pros and cons that I have found from blogging since January.

Pros

• Knowing that you have a post due helps with discipline.
• Building a sense of community in a sometimes quite isolating job.
• Writing for an audience on a regular basis improves your writing and helps you find your 'voice'.
• Getting feedback on your writing is not only helpful but it also gives you a confidence boost.
• Writing about certain topics, such as Writing in the Midst of Chaos and Turning Spare Minutes into Gems, has helped me with those issues as much as my readers.
• I enjoy it.

Cons

• It does take a lot of time, especially when promoting the posts on social media, and in theory I could be spending this time on my fiction writing. (Although, if anything, I write more now than I did before I started the blog.)

As you can see, for me at least, the pros far outweigh the cons. How about you? Do you blog? What are the good and bad points for you?

A is for Advice (from the greats)

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To kick of the A-Z Blogging Challenge here are a few of my favourite pieces of writing advice from the greats.

"Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style." P.D. James

"Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable." Francis Bacon

 "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." William Wordsmith

"Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident." William Zinsser

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things." Ray Bradbury 

 "The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it note on the wall in front of my desk saying 'Faire et se taire' (Flaubert), which I translate for myself as 'Shut up and get on with it'." Helen Simpson

"Keep writing. Keep doing it and doing it. Even in the moments when it's so hurtful to think about writing." Heather Armstrong

"You can fix anything but a blank page." Nora Roberts

"The first draft of anything is shit." Ernest Hemingway

"It takes a lot of bad writing to get to a little good writing." Truman Capote

Do you have any favourite snippets of writing advice? If so, please share them in the comments below.

As his name fits with today's letter I would also like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Arlee Bird for creating such a fantastic challenge and helping to connect so many fellow bloggers.