I'm happy for you Fencer. I can understand how excited you must be to finally get your contract, and I know I shouldn't be the one giving out advice here, but...I'd be careful when it comes to trusting your gut. Be really sure first, is my advice.

Sillygoose: I do sometimes get ideas from dreams. I, too have wierd, actionish dreams. More often, though, it's from things people say out of the blue that kind of give me a jolt and gets my mind spinning totally off track...

That is why I'm not accepting it until after this weekend. It is so I can be really sure first. I've been praying all week about it and during this retreat I am going to be getting prayer about it with others who I've talked with about my book. I am usually quite sensitive to the Holy Spirit (spiritual discernment is one of my gifts) and I am pretty good about sensing red flags. So far no red flags have come up through me or my parents who have taken a good look at the contract and the Lighthouse website. I am trying to give God time to alert me of anything that might be questionable, and so far, nothing has come up. I will know for certain by the time I return from my retreat Sunday afternoon.

This has been such an awesome journey. Through writing this book, God has taught me so much and it has matured me in ways no educational institution could have done. And the best thing I can do with it is pass it on. I am not doing this for the financial return. Lighthouse states it clear that most authors do not become self-sufficient with one book and that they are a small publisher. Whatever financial gain I get from this, I'll take but the real reason I wrote this is to help the faith of Christians and to help non-Christians to see a lot more of what is really involved in life. And if time allows this semester (not likely), I plan to start the first phase of editing of my sequel, which is a complete overhaul. It took a different turn than where it needs to go and with the last of the editing I did, it simply needs to be re-done. But I want to get as much of that done as possible during my Winter Break because once Lighthouse understands a sequel is underway, they may want it quickly.

Now, ideas from dreams. Sometimes I do that. I've had some pretty wierd dreams myself that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. But some times a single image comes into my mind that sparks my brain into action. The character climax of my novel, where one of my main characters makes the ultimate decision of his life, was the first image that popped into my brain when I began thinking about it and everything flowed from that. The whole story to Chicken Run came off a single line "Egads, we've got a Klingon." So dreams, ideas, one-liners, are all viable for use in a story.

I'll be gone from this afternoon until Sunday afternoon. When I return and after I've spoken with my parents (who are going to show my contract to a couple people who might have some good advice for me at church Sunday, since I won't be there), my decision will be confirmed. I'll post it at that time. See you when I get back.

I have the age old problem of writing so many novels - stories at the same time. Partway through one, I think of something else, or get uninspired. I have two 65 page novels sitting around . . and I just can't make myself finish them.
So I just started another . . this is very different from my usual style, and I have absolutely NO idea of what its about. But it's very fun to write, other than being creep-ed out after staying up late to write in it.

And lately my poetry has been uninspired and dull. But it keeps coming - I think I've got more than 60 pages in my "poetry book".

I do too.
Right now I just got back to writing after weeks, and I realized that my whole edit was really bad and I'll have to go back to the original.

Best of luck to you, Fencer.

Did I ever mention how I got a name for one of my characters from a dream? No joke. I was trying to figure out a name for said character before going to bed, so my subconscious decided to help me out. sillygoose, it's good to know that I'm not the only one with action-packed dreams. My dreams are all fantasy, almost never about real-life things. The other night, I had a dream I was Harry Potter! But that's another story.

Elanor, welcome to NarniaWeb! I see you found the writing thread. I hope to see you around here! As for your "story-hopping" predicament, perhaps you'll find this blog post helpful? Author Gail Carson Levine discusses story-hopping and ways to overcome it.

I've been trying to work on my story, but I spent a lot of time trying to change part of it before I realized it didn't need to be changed.
And does anyone have some to advice about editing? My first book needs a second edition. I'm thinking I should cut the laundry list description of the hero's family in the second chapter, as is takes up a whole paragraph and we don't see the family for most of the book anyway.

Thanks so much, Silver the Wanderer!! I found the blog post very helpful, and I love Gail Carson Levine! And thanks for the welcome!!

Has anyone ever started doing NaNo with absolutely no preparation? Well, perhaps a vague idea of characters and a plot, but nothing other than that? And if anyone has, how did it go?

My life is so crazy right now, the creative juices are running really dry, and by the end of the day, all I want to do is sit and stare at the wall. I just don't have the ability to plan like I would otherwise, but I still would love to give NaNo a try this year. So I'm thinking about just "shooting from the hip" and seeing what happens.

It's been a long time since I wrote anything without planning like crazy. For the past few years I've mostly worked on mystery stories, and with those kinds of stories, planning is necessary. It's gotten me into a bit of a bad habit, though, of not writing a thing until I painstakingly think through every plot element, description, and character action. So trying to write 50k words on the fly should be a good challenge for me, and maybe help shake me out of the rut I've been in with my writing.

That's actually a lot more like how I'd start my stories during the first three years of writing (ages 10 to 13)—I'd get a random, very basic plot idea, and happily start typing away without a care in the world about what would happen in the middle or the end of the tale. Fun times.

At any rate, before I let myself babble any further: this is my plan for NaNoWriMo at the moment. Hoping to see some of you guys on the NaNo thread late October/early November!

(And also hoping that writing this plan out on here will somehow make me more accountable to it. )

Oh which leads me to this general question: Does anyone get story ideas from crazy dreams they've had? I'm curious because I have the most drama filled, action packed dreams and i've drawn many stories from them. My friends all tell me my dreams are really weird because I never dream about failing a test or rainbow unicorns prancing through a meadow.

Sadly, most of what I dream about just isn't very interesting. Nowadays, mostly all of them are attempts to work out life stresses, or at any rate my brain's bizarre responses to my worries and fears. And you would be surprised how lame these dreams can be.

I do have a handful nightmares or times when I suddenly wake up overwrought with emotion (I don't have dreams about unicorns prancing through meadows either, sillygoose! ) during the course of every year, and some of these dreams definitely impacted whatever story I was working on at the time. I try to write them down whenever I have them so I don't forget, because there's really nothing like them, especially the feeling of them.

Good luck with the retreat, Fencer! I hope you come to a decision you feel really good about.

Welcome to the Writer's World thread, Elanor! Your new story sounds interesting. (Though I don't like reading or writing scary stuff right before bed, either! )

Oooh, I did not know that Gail Carson Levine had a writing tips blog, Silver. She's got some fantastic advice! When I was younger, I always wanted to go to one of her writing workshops, but she lives about five hundred miles away. I think I'll be reading that blog a lot.

And does anyone have some to advice about editing? My first book needs a second edition. I'm thinking I should cut the laundry list description of the hero's family in the second chapter, as is takes up a whole paragraph and we don't see the family for most of the book anyway.

I honestly don't have a lot of experience with editing, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but if you're feeling like the description of the hero's family is clogging up the beginning, but would still like a way to introduce them so they won't seem like they came out of nowhere when they do show up for those handful of scenes, you could have the hero briefly describe them to a new friend as they're exchanging the "stories of their lives," or have a scene where they introduce themselves. A great example of the latter is the beginning of Little Women, where the four girls all say something that says something about their character.

You could also have the hero reference them -- "The child reminded Hero of his little sister," or "The old woman was singing a song Hero remembered his mother would sing to him as a child," or "His father had taught him how to fight with a sword from a very young age, and everything Hero had ever learned from him, he needed to remember now."

That was all completely random, by the way. Just some possibilities! I hope the editing goes well.

Due to time, I will not be able to go into more editing help for the moment. But take a look a few pages back on my longer posts. I give some pretty good editing advice.

But what am I talking about? I'm back from my retreat and I have come to a decision. I've been praying for God to give me a legitimate reason not to accept the contract and I never got one. Translation, I going through with this. Tomorrow or Tuesday (depending on time mostly), I will sign and accept the contract. As the editing process with an actual editor takes place, I will post the release date as that approaches. This is so excited. It is now confirmed that my book will be published. And I expect it will be released at some point between now and when I graduate in May.

Has anyone ever started doing NaNo with absolutely no preparation? Well, perhaps a vague idea of characters and a plot, but nothing other than that?

Yep. The first year I ended up with a story that doesn't do a whole lot, has absolutely no conflict or resolution for the main characters, and I dare say anyone who had a mind to could find oodles of things to critique. But I made 50K, made my goal of writing my characters through a year in their lives, and the story itself has a lot of memories from that November woven into it, so I like it.

The second year, I was a little more prepared, and I think it shows. The story still needs four or five more goings over since it still ends very abruptly. (Ah! End of the month. Everyone go home and live happily ever after! )

I halfway expect to do it again this year. I'm not really excited by any of the three or four partially outlined stories I have sitting around yet. I expect some sort of idea will pop into my head about the week before November and then I'll just run with it and see what happens.

*dittos Rose-Tree Dryad's advice to Lady Haleth*

Congratulations, Fencer! How exciting to finally be this close to realsing your dream!

Hi everybody! I've always been lurking in this thread but never posted, althought I love writing.

I recently joined a creative writing class and it's going really well. It's nice to be around people that share the same interest in writing (just like the NWebbers in this thread). I really recomend it! It has also helped me in the editing part, because I can get feedback from my classmates. Is anybody else taking part in a creative writing class o something similar?

Has anyone ever started doing NaNo with absolutely no preparation? Well, perhaps a vague idea of characters and a plot, but nothing other than that? And if anyone has, how did it go?

Yep! On my first NaNo. I knew how it would start and end, but the middle was a huge NOTHING. I reached the 50k, but sometimes I wrote things out of nowhere that had to cut in the editing part, because they didn't make sense Last year, I had a much more clear idea and it was easier. Just some things, not a very detailed outline, but it made the story move forward with more fluency. Hope it helped!

Congratulations, Fencer! And all the best to you on this new phase of the process

Lady Haleth, I'm in the middle of editing too. It seems daunting, but just take it a step at a time. Have you ever tried printing out your pages and editing them by hand? I always seem to get more done while writing on paper...don't ask me why. It's a weakness of mine. Computers are too much of a distraction, I guess. (Hence me being on here while I really should be writing! )

No problem, Elanor!

Rose-Tree, that sounds about where I am with NaNo. It's my first year doing it, and I have a great idea and a general idea when I want to go with it, but the details are sketchy. Meh. Well, I guess I'll worry about that once it gets closer to November...I've got too much other stuff going on right now.

Yes! Gail Carson Levine's blog is amazing! She gives wonderful advice! Look for her posts every Wednesday. What we do is ask questions in the comments, and if it requires a long answer and she hasn't posted about the topic yet, she'll had it to her list of future posts! One way or another, she answers everyone's questions. It's so incredibly neat to have that kind of interaction between a best-selling author and us aspiring writers. Some really neat discussions go on in the comments section too, and I've met several writer friends there. I highly recommend popping in to see what this week's post is about.

And I'd love to go to one of her workshops too! But my drive would be even longer than yours.

Congratulations, Fencer! I'm so happy for you!

Hello Mar! *waves* I wish I could take a creative writing class! I'm part of a local critique group, but I've only been able to make one of their meetings because they meet once a month on Fridays, right in the middle of school. I'm hoping to be able to take half a day off from school so I can go, because I received a lot of good feedback at the meeting I went to.

Congrats, Fencer! When you're a famous writer we'll be able to say we knew you 'back when...'

And welcome to the Writers' thread, Mar In Narnia.

The first year I ended up with a story that doesn't do a whole lot, has absolutely no conflict or resolution for the main characters...But I made 50K, made my goal of writing my characters through a year in their lives, and the story itself has a lot of memories from that November woven into it, so I like it.

Ditto! My first NaNo has memories from last November woven into it, so I like it. One I especially recall came on the 2-hour drive to my parents' house for Thanksgiving: a certain song I was listening to ("The Battle Hymn of Love" by Kathy Mattea and Tim O'Brien) gave me an idea for both a romantic moment between my main characters and a way to bridge to the next plot event. I couldn't wait to get home to write it down.

This year I have the characters and a plot idea but little conflict so far...but another month to think about it.

I reached the 50k, but sometimes I wrote things out of nowhere that had to cut in the editing part, because they didn't make sense...

I suspect that happens to a number of NaNo writers...I wrote a big bit of exposition early in the story that, while relevant to the background, really didn't advance the plot. While it may have ended up on the 'cutting room floor,' it still allowed me to explore the characters' backgrounds and spell some things out for the first time. And I think those ideas are going to come in handy in a month or so.

One of the big things about NaNo is that is not about plot or writing skills, but getting words on the page. The time period is designed to make you focus on writing and not pausing to edit. I tried NaNo two years ago, but I got writer's burn out just after I started. So I backed off. This year is an absolute no-no. My software engineering class is enough to keep me busy beyond what NaNo would require. Besides, any writing I do between now and a while will be final editing with Lighthouse or beginning to work on the editing of my sequel.

Character descriptions is always a tricky part for many writers including myself. The typical thing to do is just list down the physical characteristics. Hair color? Height? Weight? Build? Eye color? This is pretty monotonous and takes the reader's mind out of the story. Instead of just using a paragraph to describe the character, but those descriptions in the story. Describe the eyes through eye contact. Describe the build, height, weight through a character's perception. If a particular feature plays a role in the story, focus on that. It could be the ears, the nose, the chin, the weight, or anything like that.

Character background is also tricky. Exposition of a character's background rarely flows well in a story. Take the background and make it part of the story through dialogue, actions, and the like. I have a character for my medieval novel (not the one being published) that had a brutal event take place during his childhood. But I don't let the reader know about it until late in the story. I make the reader wonder about it due to his anger, his actions, and his interactions with the other characters. And actually to be honest, I didn't really come to what that event was until I got to that point in the story.

So play with it and you will find yourself with a stronger story, characters that people will want to get to know, and a higher level of satisfaction in your work.

Thank you for the advice, everyone! I will make the hero think about his family while he's away from them (they happen to be in an enchanted sleep for most of the story, and he's trying to bring them back.) There's an older sister, her husband, and a younger brother. The sister and her much older husband have basically been like parents to my orphan hero Not to mention this girl, the sister of his companion, who he happened to be in love with when he was exiled...
Right now the problem I'm having is with excessively outspoken characters. They are interesting. However, I have to be devising ways to give them consequences, because it would be pretty unrealistic if there weren't.