Ego Lessons

We've all seen taglines that just make us cringe. Summaries that makes us roll our eyes and book blurbs that forces us to look away. It's sadly common. I've noticed people tend to see it as arrogance and laziness. They're just not trying hard enough, is the assumption. I agree it certainly comes across that way at first glance. However, having spent time in writers' groups, I've found time again, no matter what the problem happens to be, the underlying cause is always lack of confidence.

Some people get quite defensive when they lack confidence. Others burst into tears and wail. More will hit people over the head, trying to force others to blindly accept whatever they say. And some will retreat into their shell, never to be heard from again. I'm guilty of all of the above.

I started actively writing in 2002 - 2003. Since then, I've learned a lot of humbling lessons about my own ego which allowed me to build up confidence. But what I really want to talk about is summaries.

Learning how to sum up a whole novel is a bitch and a half. Every author struggles with that one. For new independent authors, it can be harrowing. And truth be told, it was really hard for me to learn how to describe my psychological thriller for query letters. I contemplated suicide so I wouldn't have to write anything. I was so frustrated. But I know how to write those kind of letters! It's identical to writing a cover lever for a graphic design job position. I can do this, dammit. I ended up punching my way through it until something made sense and it wasn't longer than a few sentences.

In a recent conversation with authors, a light bulb went off. The answer to why I struggled so much suddenly smacked me in the face. Lack of confidence. Lack of allowing the book to speak for itself. Describing all my influences and ego, instead of describing the story.

That's when I understood yet another humbling lesson. Overcompensating a lack of confidence made the early drafts of my query letter come across as describing my ego instead of my book. I'm not lazy, I put a lot of effort into summary writing. I was trying too hard. Why? I was scared agents would see right through everything and recognize my lack of confidence. Fear of the emperor’s new clothes.

Lack of confidence + trying too hard = a summary of my ego.

So there you have it. The mathematical equation for what not to do. The rest is up to you.

Synopsis and Outline: don't leave home without them.

Since my personal work has slowed down quite a bit, website is redesigned, new blog layout, etc, I'd like to share a few writing lessons I learned while working on my latest book. To see current and planned projects, visit the Brain.

The first lesson, the meaning of a synopsis and an outline. Like a lot of writers, I also believed I didn't need a synopsis or an outline. I can just sit down and write a whole book, outlines are for sissies! And then I learned...

I began thinking of it this way, a synopsis and outlines are like filing cabinets. The point of both is to create tools that allow me to organize ideas and write a completed book.

The idea for a potential story comes first, then a 1 paragraph synopsis, then a 1 -2 page outline. It's more than the creative process. It's the process of making ideas into something tangible, something real, and more than just a thought jostling around in my head.

Lesson learned: Outlines are not ideas. They're just a way to organize ideas.

To be brutally honest, I know that there's no way in living hell I would have completed a whole thriller novel without writing an outline first. I strongly suspect this is where aspiring writers fail to finish their project and give the wrong impression of themselves. I know I did that, I'm writing a book! Well, no, it's not finished... I can't tell you what it's about and... um... yeah.

Seriously, write an outline. It will save you so much grief.

Here's another winning point. Having an outline first, allowed me to have much more fun writing the book. It may seem like a contradiction, but it's true. Being organized meant having more fun than just making up BS and hoping (foolishly) that it all makes sense in the end.

I'll put it another way. I've tried to write a total of 4 novels. The one that worked and completed, is the only one where I wrote a full outline first. That's proof enough for me.

Now, about the synopsis. That did take me a bit longer to learn than outline writing. A synopsis should be about 3 sentences, 5 max, and summarizes the whole story. You say, impossible! Yeah, I thought that, too. A whole book, before it's written, in 3 measly sentences?!

Here's why the synopsis should be written first. Once a manuscript is complete, even as only the first draft, it's very difficult for any author to be objective because they see all the connections and can't separate. Every author who truly cares about their work will lovingly craft every single word. And that's the part agents/publishers DON'T want to know, and frankly, neither do the readers. All anyone wants to know is, is it a good story? Does it make sense? Why should I read?

See? The answers are a total of three sentences.

I've read and studied a lot of articles about synopsis writing, and a lot of them were both useless and confusing. It's actually very simple.

Sentence 1 - Introduce main character, setting and purpose.

Sentence 2 - Present the conflict in the story. No conflict? No story.

Sentence 3 - How the conflict is resolved.

Sentence 3 took me the longest to understand. It's not the ending of a story, it's not the resolution, it's how the conflict is resolved. I didn't have to give anything away, just present a choice the character makes, if they choose one or the other, there will be resolution. That's all.

Yeah, it's been awhile

I've been neck deep in wrting my next novel. Short stories are fine and I do get ideas for them every once in awhile, but I prefer the space novel writing allows.

I'm past the halfway point, and hope to be finished by April at the latest. Then, we'll see how things go :)

I'll post more details when I can. Although, I'm debating how much can be posted before (hopefully) publication. Self-promotion is fine and everything, but there is a limit, especially when it's not finished yet. So, I've decided I can safely post the technical details without saying too much for the meantime.

Lily's Next Novel

Genre: Drama/Suspense

Adult fiction: yes, most definitely, not for kiddies at all

All human: yes, sorry, nothing mythical nor paranormal in this one. The suspense is the meat of the story. Very, very, suspenseful.

Chapters so far: 17 (including the prologue)

Word count so far: 52770 words

Total estimate: between 90 - 100, 000 words, 20 - 25 chapters, including prologue and epilogue (extremely rough estimate, all I know for certain is it will definitely be novel sized)

Okay, that's it for now. Sorry for my prolonged silence, I hope everyone understands :)