on writing

What are your thought on the matter? Do you love seeing different characters weigh in on a story or do you prefer to stick with one protagonist/antagonist throughout?

Ask Me Anything, Part 1

November 17, 2018 By Keira Gillett

Hi Fiercelings,

Thanks for joining me today, I’m delighted to share with you the start of a new series of blog posts here on my author website.

In these Ask Me Anything posts I will answer questions you have submitted about Zaria, about myself, about writing, etc. The following questions were submitted by Tommy, Nate, Lizzy, and Michele.

Let’s dive in!

Q: Have you ever dreamed about your characters or their world?

A: I day dream about them all the time. I try to be good and write down these snippets as they come to me. I don’t always use them, but I like keeping a record of them. A lot of great ideas come when I am sitting down quietly somewhere and mull over the characters, world, and plots.

Q: If you could meet one of your characters, any one at all, which would you most like to meet and why?

A: I’m such an author when I say this – I’d love to meet any and all of them! If you’re going to force me to choose, I would say Zaria, Aleks, and Christoffer because they’re the leads in the different trilogies which make up the Zaria Fierce Series. I’d like the chance to hug them and tell them I’m not always a mean author. For pure fun: I’d pick Hector. For a pet: I would choose Norwick.

Q: If an evil Fey cast a spell on you that caused you to be able to say only one phrase for the rest of your life, what phrase would you choose? Would you be able to outsmart the evil fey with your phrase?

A: Since I can pick the phrase – I would pick, “I love you.” I think that phrase alone would eventually be able to break such a curse, if the person under its spell truly felt the words for everyone, even towards the curser.

Q: What was your favorite book when you were a kid?

A: So many! I read a bunch of the Sunshine State Award books, which is how I found Ella Enchanted (one of my all time favorite Cinderella stories) and a bunch of series. I read Nancy Drew, Animorphs, Harry Potter, and Encyclopedia Brown when I was younger and Twilight, Mrs. Murphy, Cat Who, Bernie Rhodenbarr, and Stephanie Plum when I was older. I love reading and I am very grateful that I can add my own worlds to those that I grew up on.

Q: Which of your book characters do you think you’re most like and why?

A: It’s a funny thing, being an author. I could pick any character and probably say – this or this about them is me. Zaria is my bookworm happy self. I always carry a book on me. She’s also many things I strive to be – kind, caring, warm, tenderhearted. Aleks is my more practical side that tries to see the big picture and look for the best route to proceed. Christoffer shares a lot of my humor and that of my husband’s as well. Hector is more how I see myself as an adult. Nori is how I think my younger sisters felt about me at times growing up (siblings always seem to pick on each other, don’t they?).

Q: What’s your typical day like?

A: Filled with work during the day, and lots of things in the evenings depending on the day of the week. Tuesdays and Saturdays I do ballet. Wednesdays I eat dinner with the folks and go to church. Thursdays and Fridays tend to be date nights with the hubby. Weekends I spend doing chores and errands. Sundays is church again, lunch with the folks, and evenings spent with friends playing board games. In between all that I slice out time each day to write. I have several word goals that are always active, which keep me motivated and help me track how far along I am in a book.

Q: What’s your biggest challenge while writing a book?

A: The beginning of a trilogy always seems to be the hardest for me, and while a trilogy ending isn’t necessarily a challenge to write down the first time, I always have to go back and think it through slowly as I strive to ensure it covers all the points necessary to wrap up and also leave readers satisfied.

Q: If you were president and could institute a system to help kids be better educated, what would you institute?

A: I think reading and literacy is key for a child – it’s creative, it’s informative, and it’s good to have the comprehension skills which are built from reading as an adult. I would probably build on existing intuitions which support these activities for kids. It’s not always about something new, but adapting what’s in place for the current needs.

Q: Who’s your biggest role model?

A: There’s a lot of people I admire in life. I tend to connect well with older women who fill roles of friend, mentor, aunt, mom, and/or grandma. I find these women to be some of the kindest, most generous people I know and they motivate and inspire me.

Q: What’s your favorite color?

A: Purple! Almost any shade. It’s hard to find a purple I don’t like.

Q: If Zaria were going to make a YouTube channel, what would it be about?

A: Zaria would have a booktube channel and a magic channel, although on her magic channel people wouldn’t realize it was actual magic.

Q: Have you ever seen a real deer or elk up close?

A: I have pet a doe in a zoo. I have seen elk and moose at national parks. I have yet to see them as close as the deer from the petting zoo though.

Q: From your experiences travelling the world, what’s your favorite food from any part of the world?

A: I remember these amazing raspberry popsicles from a trip to Finland when I was eleven. I wanted one every day. I remember dining on red chicken curry in France at the same age (and today it’s one of my all time favorite foods). I remember eating something like egg foo young/quiche in China at fifteen, but I couldn’t tell you what it was, only that I loved it. As I have gotten older, I’ve learned to try more things and over time my palette has expanded and I like a lot of things you couldn’t have paid me to eat as a kid – asparagus, macaroni, sushi, bacon, cheese (that isn’t cheddar), beans, fries, just to name a few.

Q: If you could do anything at all, job wise, what would it be?

A: Write books full time!

Q: What did you like about school, growing up?

A: I enjoyed learning a lot and making friends. Lunch time was always spent reconnecting with everyone from various periods. Favorite classes probably were English, French, and art, but I liked all the science and history and math ones too. I made the honor roll often.

Q: Can you name all the names of all the characters in your book without looking?

A: I’d come pretty close. The side characters that haven’t had a second appearance yet in the series, might be a touch problematic. If you asked me to name everyone who I’ve thought up but haven’t put in the books yet, that would almost be impossible. Luckily, I have an immense spreadsheet with all this detail, and another one with all their physical and personality descriptors. In between books, I generally read or listen to the whole series again so I don’t miss anything or anyone, and I look at all my notes to remind myself where I want to go next.

If you have a question that you would like to ask me, submit it to [email protected] or leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

Blog Tour Stop: Did You Know These 10 Things about Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well? + Giveaway

August 6, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Hi Fiercelings! I’m over at Brenda’s blog, Log Cabin Library, dishing on my writing and Aleks’ first adventure as the MC in the Zaria Fierce Series. Here’s a sneak peek of what I revealed in the post:

Grandmothers: Hearing Michele narrate for Grizzle, I realized I really do love my grandmother figures in the series and have only one grandfather mentioned, and so far he’s been off-page, this is probably because I was super close to my own grandma. I didn’t really know my grandfathers, who passed away before I really was of age to remember them. In the series, we now have Ava, who’s hip and cool; Granny who’s sugary sweet and absent-minded; the witch in the woods, who’s a bit crazy, but sly as a fox; and Grizzle, who’s tough as nails so don’t cross her.

Earlier Brenda wrote an amazing review of Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well. Below is a quote from her review, and if you follow this link you can read it in full.

There’s just something so comforting about returning to Zaria and the gang, while also learning more about Aleks’ story. Gillett’s books always include plenty of action and I love the adventures that the gang has across Norway as they try to prevent Fritjof’s escape. I’m very curious about what the future has in store for Aleks.

Thanks so much, Brenda for your kind words and having me back on your blog! Be sure to head over and read my guest post revealing fun facts about the books because at the bottom is a chance for a fun giveaway. Ends 8/20/2017. Good luck!

4 Reasons Every Fiction Author Should Go On Escape Room Adventures

June 1, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Escape room games are a new source of entertainment sweeping the nation and gaining in popularity. I didn’t know much about them, other than my hubby saying the idea for them is based off the Saw franchise. I’m not into horror so I put the idea of doing one on the back burner. I didn’t really think the rooms were all designed for cheap horror thrills, like a haunted house, but I didn’t know what to expect either. It wasn’t until seeing Geek and Sundry’s Escape Room web series that I got super excited. It was the catalyst for me to jump in head first and try one out.

Having now completed two different scenarios (technically escaping only one, and missing the other by a one-to-two minute margin), I fully recommend trying them out for all, and feel that every fiction author should do one to improve their writing, and not just for mystery writers, but for any genre. Here’s how:

Finding Clues: Escape rooms are all about observation. It teaches gamers about what’s worth noticing. When it comes to sprinkling legitimate clues and red herrings, escape rooms are a great way to sort through possible clues in your writing. For instance, if you see a locked door, obviously you want to open it. In a recent room I did, the locked door was a red herring. If you focused too much of your time on opening it, you’d never complete the scenario. What sort of clues can you sprinkle in your writing that draw your characters’ and readers’ attention while also planting the real clues more subtly?
Solving Puzzles: Escape rooms will chain together puzzles. Not in every case, but in enough to be mindful that not everything is one and done. Sometimes clues are doubly important. Solving them takes creative thinking, matching several observations together, deduction, and other skills to put it all together. These will help you as an author, figure out how to get your characters to arrive at the solution, and bring your readers along with you in a way that makes sense and doesn’t feel half-baked.
Teamwork: Escape rooms are not a single person effort. It requires many people, communicating and noodling their way through the scenario. As fun as the Sherlock Holmes archetype is, your main character shouldn’t always be the one with the solution or the observation that leads to winning the day. Sometimes puzzles are unsolvable alone, someone else has part of your puzzle. How can you get your characters involved with other people to find the crucial missing pieces? Do they talk to an authority? A witness? A neighbor?
Immersive: Escape rooms are an experience, as oppose to playing a puzzle game on your computer, which is not immersive. In an escape room there’s sounds, lights, props, sets, and more. Everything you do in one involves your senses. Everything is chosen specifically and with purpose. They draw you in. Your writing should do the same. When you build a scene, start with your theme and go from there. Add your touches to pull in your readers’ imagination. Play to their expectations when creating atmosphere and scenery. Then surprise them. Delight them! Make them want to dig deeper. Your choice in words and storytelling should be evocative.

Escape rooms are a wonderful tool in author’s toolkit, and plus it’s so much fun to do. Your readers will also thrill in solving puzzles, chaining together a series of clues, and completing a set of challenges. Good luck and may you have a great escape! 🙂

Thinking of other books, which feature fun immersive games/challenges, off the top of my head, I enjoyed the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter, the 74^th and 75^th Hunger Games from the trilogy with the same name, the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Testing in the trilogy with the same name, and the Selection in the trilogy with the same name.

In the Zaria Fierce Series there are two such sequences a few books apart. The first in book two involving the fey in Niffleheim. Zaria and her friends must win two of three challenges. The stakes are high and they can’t afford to be outmatched. Now the next trials they’ll face is in a future book, also with the fairies. If you recall from book two, I said fairies love games. You’ll see what I mean when the gang reaches Niffleheim again.

What are your favorite tests/challenges/puzzles/trials/tournaments in books?

Write Ahead of Your Publishing Schedule

May 25, 2017 By Keira Gillett

I’m a huge advocate of writing ahead of your publishing schedule. Whether it is self-imposed, or a deadline set upon you by your publisher, the quicker you can crush that deadline, the better off you’ll be. Getting ahead of the game provides great benefits for you and for your writing, such as freeing up your time and your energies for other tasks and activities. When you’re ahead in your writing, you’re not stressed or pressed for time, and you can step back, think, and make adjustments to the story line. It’s a great position to be in, and you can be right there with me, if you aren’t already.

When I started publishing Zaria Fierce, I cut my timeline short between writing and publishing by two months, because I was so excited to get the book out and become a published author. I wrote the book and published it within a six month time span instead of an eight to 12 month time span, which hampered me in some respects. I wasn’t as prepared for book one or book two as I could have been. This is especially apparent to me from a marketing standpoint. I’m still figuring this whole marketing thing out, so I don’t beat myself up too badly about the abbreviated timeline. And happily, I built back into my timeline those missing months and even more time besides.

So how far along am I? I’m about a one-fifth to one-quarter of the way through the newest story and conclusion to Aleks Mickelsen’s trilogy. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Today, as I am nearing the publication of the fourth book in the Zaria Fierce series, which is the first in Aleks’ trilogy, I’m writing book six. This is fantastic, because I can make changes to book five if something comes to me as I’m writing book six that requires foreshadowing or prior-knowledge from one or more of the characters.

I have done this before with previous books. Something has nearly cropped up in all of my books that requires planting it’s seeds in an earlier one. An example I can give that doesn’t spoil readers (at least for the upcoming books in Aleks’ trilogy) is the time I went and added the term “Golden Kings” to book one due to developments in book two. This type of detail fleshes out a world and gives it more depth, a common history/knowledge/vernacular, and vividness. If you’re not giving yourself the space and time to be able to add these nuggets into your writing, you could potentially miss out on chaining and building really great story-telling elements into your books.

Being as far ahead as I am in my own writing schedule, I am able to research more for future books, and work on my marketing for the books which are already published (something I really need to do!) I can also use this free time to build my newsletter list, write blog posts, or hold a book reading/signing event. I can use the time to plan a vacation or attend a friend’s wedding. The only true thing I have to worry about now is not spoiling for readers what happens next, because I know so much more than they do or will even after the Twice-Lost Fairy Well comes out.

I hope I’ve sold you on my writing style and its benefits. If you want to be in a similar position I have a few tips for you, which will get you there.

3 Things You Can Do Now to Crush Writing the First Draft for Your Current WIP

Set goals like a crazy person. The more writing goals you can set the better. When I set writing goals, I ensure that they chain together, and help motivate me to reach the next goal, and the next, and the next. Each one acts like a springboard to push myself to the next level. I do this by setting word count goals (off-set from 500/1000 to 200/700, so even my non-goals of 500/1000 act like goals). I set chapter goals (big picture items, plotting, pacing, and planning for a certain number of chapters). I set micro goals – e.g. finish the scene. I set macro goals – e.g. link these two areas of the story together. The more goals I have across the various levels the better off I am, because it keeps me constantly moving and writing and before I even know it, I’ve written thousands of words and finished my first draft.
Make writing a habit. Not only should you be setting writing goals to churn out word count, you should be making your writing a long-term habit. Write on a schedule. If you want to write every day, set aside time to do so. If you only want to write Monday through Friday, plan for it. Set aside a place to write and a time. You can even take it a step further by securing the clothes you’ll wear, the food you’ll need, your drink of choice, your writing music playlist, shutting off your phone, unplugging your modem, whatever it is. Minimize interruptions and distractions. Stick to your plans and your butt-in-chair time will equal progress on your current draft.
Do not edit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Do not waste time editing now. Don’t look up stuff now. This time is for writing the book. Got a question? Can’t remember a character’s hair color? Don’t know who did what or said what in what scene from before? Write down what you think you know. Highlight it. When you come back for your second draft, do the research then. It’s not worth losing a train of thought to fix something immediately that you can fix later. Your train of thought is the most precious thing your book has got going for it. Don’t screw it up by focusing on the nitty gritty. Write. Write. Write. It’s okay to be thin on facts and details as long as you get the ideas out there. You can always edit until your blue in the face later, fixing what you got incorrect and fleshing out sequences that are missing their “potatoes.”

As a self-published author, being ahead of schedule is huge for me. I work hard (and play hard) to get the first draft out. Afterward, because I have built-in time, I can set aside the draft, instead of racing into editing. I can wait on notes from beta readers and trusted persons, to learn what worked and what didn’t. And while I wait for those notes, I can start the next book. See? Always chaining those goals together even across WIPs.

I hope these writing tips have helped you, and fired you up to tackle your WIP. Good luck my friend and happy writing!

Good Gracious! Are Those Actual Parents?

May 16, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When writing Zaria Fierce I made the conscious decision to go against the typical relationships found in middle grade and young adult novels between parents or guardians, and the kids in their care. Absent/neglectful/cruel adults make it easier to send kids on adventures in books, but I wanted to see a bond between parents and their progeny that drew from my siblings’ and mine experiences in my family growing up.

So Zaria is adopted, an only child, has lovely parents, and is well adjusted. Queue the *horror.*

What will you write about without all that teen drama?!?!? Wait! Adopted?

Adoptive parents can be absolutely wonderful people. They’re not all mean. Just like step-parents aren’t all nasty despite the rampant evil stepmothers throughout fairy tales and literature… or aunts, uncles, grandparents, foster parents, and other guardians… take your pick. Fictional kids can be like real kids and come from happy homes. I wanted my heroine to experience the same.

As for the relationships, I modeled Merry Fierce and Zaria’s relationship off of my relationship with my mom. Mom Gillett is a cool mom if I do say so myself. If I wanted to play hooky, she’d play hooky with me. If I wanted to be checked out for a lunch date, we’d do that. If I wanted to desperately attend a midnight premiere for Harry Potter while on a family road trip she somehow made it work. In high school, she let my best friend stay with us while her dad was out of the country. We traveled the world together and are the best of friends. (Love you mom!)

When it came time to write, I poured that love into Merry’s and Zaria’s relationship.

And I don’t stop there.

Colonel Fierce is hard-working, attentive, loving, strict, and obliging.
Emma Johansen (Christoffer’s mum) is kind, concerned, intelligent, and loving.
Samuel and Naia Mickelsen (Aleks’ parents) are attentive, supportive, and kind.
Aleks also has a good relationship with his grandparents. Ava on one side and Remigus on the other.
Mrs. Storstrand (Filip’s mom) is strict, fair, and loving.

The adults are all good people and yet the kids still get to go on adventures all over Norway to reach Gloomwood Forest. See parents don’t ruin all the fun! So how do the kids do it? Aha! Good question. Discover the answer in Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. It has to do with a mysterious egg-shaped object.

What other books have you read where the adults are good people and have good relationships with their kids or wards?

The Great Debate – Vocabulary in Books for Kids

May 11, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When I wrote the first draft Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest I didn’t think about the vocabulary I was using. It wasn’t until the first round of beta readers got a hold of the novel that I started to question word choices because they questioned word choices.

Do I dumb down? Do I elevate? What’s the middle ground? Is there a middle ground?

You read online, and everywhere you look there’s warnings this way and that way about doing one or the other. Too verbose and it’ll turn kids off. Too dumbed down and it’ll bore them. You can’t please everybody. So what to do?

I thought back to my own experience.

I’ve always been a reader. In high school I took the SAT’s twice. My first verbal score early on in my high school career was around the middle range. I took it again my senior year, where I only studied for the math section, but got a much higher verbal score. I credit the very high verbal score from that round of testing to the sole fact that I was a voracious reader, and that I was reading both kid books and adult books. Books have to build vocabulary and establish a common vernacular to make such a positive change in test scores.

I looked to children’s movies that I loved. Disney loves to turn out verbal comedy. For example, the use of the phrase ‘your lugubriousness’ when one of the imps in Hercules addresses Hades. Adults might think this word play is just for them, because they have the vocabulary to understand, but I think it makes an impact on kids, too. Kids are smarter than adults will sometimes give them credit for.

I read a few blogs in the book blogger community which discussed vocabulary in their favorite books as kids. Some were surprised to find during rereads that the books contained really big words. This spurred me to check too. I looked at how some of my favorite children’s authors wrote and saw that the bloggers were right. The books did contain big words. What a relief!

I also knew a large chunk of readers would probably access my book on an e-reading device with a built-in dictionary. I was confident that vocabulary would be a minor footnote. A word should never get in the way of the story, but an author should never forget that a story is comprised of words. There’s no need to be fearful of using the words you know.

This is why I left the most of the words which were questioned alone, and changed out only a few for better words. Changing this word for that word came down to clarity for the reader, and/or poetically what was right for the story.

When it comes to my current writing projects, I start in much the same way as I did for that very first book. I just write. The first draft is its own animal, which is wrestled into submission. Editing is the right time for me to debate on word-choice. It’s where the magic happens!
Where do you fall on the great debate? Where should vocabulary stand when it comes to storytelling?

Becoming an Author Changes How You Read Books

May 9, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When I completed the first book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy I noticed something odd. I was reading differently. I know it’s a bold statement to say writing a book changes how you read books. But is the concept really all that farfetched, or is it all too obvious? I’ll let you decide.

Before writing Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, paying attention to how I read was not anything I thought to analyze. I simply read and enjoyed. Even while writing Zaria’s first adventures to Norway, it wasn’t something on my radar, but I noticed while editing and readying the book for publication that my reading habits had changed. I wasn’t just a reader anymore, simply reading to enjoy a book, I was an author, too. I was reading books and dissecting what other authors did.

Now, that I’ve published my first trilogy set out into the world, I notice the changes in how I read even more. Witty turns of phrases catch my attention like landmarks on a road trip. I always loved a clever phrase as a reader, but as an author I am admiring the craft and skill involved, how easily it slid into place and flowed with the rest of the text.

I marvel at how sentences are engineered. For instance from a newspaper article came, “his words popped sporadically like popcorn.” What a clear visual and sound impression. I can hear it and see it – a little man jumping around to emphasize thoughts as they came to him.

Another thing I do is question word choices describing actions. Can someone’s gaze climb over someone’s appearance? Certainly the movement is clear, but eyes don’t have limbs to climb with, so does it work? And if for instance would the word traveled be better? Can a gaze travel over someone’s appearance? If it is better, why is it better? The gaze still doesn’t have limbs… but it can move, by changing where it’s looking.

I especially appreciate correct words in a story instead of their mistaken counterparts like compliment vs complement and homed in on vs honed in on. (Not that I didn’t appreciate them before, but now I feel more sympathetic toward malapropisms in text. I hated finding those in my own writing. They creep up far too often, and an author can’t claim distractions or interruptions for all of them! Though we will try.)

I read a lot of grammar blogs. More and more as the time passes. I want to stay sharp, learn new tricks, catch errors that might be missed, and hopefully polish my writing with their nuggets of wisdom. So yes, I still enjoy the story, and I might think about all the same things other readers or authors might when reading. But, I’m now analyzing how the words got on the page and learning wisdom on how to write at each author’s feet.

Brushing Off Your Copy Editor Skills

May 4, 2017 By Keira Gillett

For fun I read grammar blogs, writing blogs, and copy editing blogs. I know, I’m weird, but I have an excuse – I write! A lot! I learn from these blogs and use my findings to rid my stories of items that sticklers love to stickle.

One example that comes to mind right now focuses on the words poor, pore, and pour. The blogger, who is an editor, talked about why he/she didn’t like self-published books by citing the above set of words as an example on quality writing. The self-published author the blogger focused on had incorrectly used the word poured to indicate a character studying a text. The correct word should be pored.

I filed that tidbit away and when I next opened the draft of my book, I checked for the words. Wouldn’t you know it? I too had used poured wrongly in the context of a sentence. A quick change and now I was good to go. And of course, fixing these errors on your own doesn’t mean you can skip hiring a real editor to edit your work, – which I did when I was finished with my edits, – but it does keep potential errors from escaping detection. If you know it, you should fix it.

What grammatical errors bother you the most when you read?

For me it’s the wrong word in place of the right one, and not necessarily homophones like poured/pored, but the unintentional malapropisms that aren’t spotted and are left in place, where the two words are vastly different and don’t mean the same thing at all. Not even books from big name publishers are 100% free of these errors, but they do occur less frequently due to vigorous editing.

Over to you!

The Oxford Comma – Do You Love It or Hate It?

May 2, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Even though it’s a little punctuation mark, the Oxford Comma stirs a lot of debate, and not just from grammarians. The Oxford Comma is a serial comma, or in other words the comma in a list of items denoting the second to last and last items from each other. For example:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk, and cheese.

In journalism where every character counts, I’ve learned that the Oxford Comma is not generally used. This is because it’s believed that the sentence still makes sense without it. This stance is why some would prefer the above sentence to read:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk and cheese.

My old boss would disagree, even though he understood the style choice. His background in technical writing put significant importance on the Oxford Comma. In his work, the serial comma was used to clarify instructions and keep everyone working together. It simplified reading, making it easier to know what the writer intended.

I personally love the Oxford Comma. I grew up using it (probably because that’s how my English teachers taught me). I’m on the side of the debate that thinks the comma makes a sentence cleaner, clearer, and polished. See what I did there? One of my beta readers thinks the same as I do. In fact, it’s her favorite punctuation.

I read an article recently about a legal case where the Oxford Comma was up for debate. The case was won because the serial comma wasn’t used in legal documentation for a Maine law on overtime protections for workers, in this case delivery drivers. In fact, according to the article, Maine legislature ignores the Oxford Comma. I wonder if that will soon change.

Who knew grammar could win you a case in court? So let that be a lesson in why you should dot every “I”, cross every “T”, and put a comma after every item in a list.

Over to you – what’s your stance on the Oxford Comma? Is it friend or foe?

Plotting the Perfect Book

April 27, 2017 By Keira Gillett

How you arrive at the perfect book as an author depends entirely on your writing perspective. So let’s start with a quiz to figure out your stance on plotting. Answer these truthfully, because there’s no right or wrong answer.

I often figure out where a book’s or show’s storyline is going.
1. True
2. False
I delight in the unexpected.
1. False
2. True
The perfect book has no loose ends.
1. True
2. False
Plot holes aren’t the end of the world.
1. False
2. True
Every detail in a narrative must mean something.
1. True
2. False
I hate it when a detail is incorrect, didn’t any research get done?
1. True
2. False

Mostly 1’s: Congratulations! You’re a plotter!

Mostly 2’s: Congratulations! You’re a pantser!

Equal 1’s and 2’s: Congratulations! You’re both a plotter and a pantser!

So what does your answer mean?

PLOTTER:

If you’re a plotter, you like to have every detail arranged. You’ve done all your research ahead of time and organized all your notes so they’re available at the ready. Your perfect book is flawlessly arranged from beginning to end and it reads beautifully. Before you even type the first word you know where you’re going and what words will take you there. You’re meticulous and it works to your advantage.

When you plan your books, you should: create lists of characters, settings, and plot with details about how they all relate; sort out all the action and dialogue; do your research first; figure out your characters’ motivation; know the book’s climax; and lay out the storyline across all chapters.

Beware: Your need for perfection, might keep you from starting the book and finishing it. Keep to a writing schedule and a word count goal.

PANTSER:

If you’re a pantser, you go with the flow. Day by day you’re not sure where the characters will take you, but you’re up for the task. You’ll research on the spot as ideas and situations come up. You like how things tend to come together in a serendipitous fashion. Everything works out in the end, and if it doesn’t, you’ll fix it on the next draft. You don’t sweat the small stuff. You know every word is the right word at the time, and can be changed if it turns out it isn’t a perfect fit. Others might see this laissez-faire attitude and think you don’t care, but you care immensely.

When you plan your books, you should: put together idea boards for characters, setting, and plot; keep a notebook filled with any odds and ends that strike your fancy from words you like to doodles you make to research you did; use Post-Its to arrange plot points, if you know them; and look outside yourself for inspiration and ideas, whether it be in magazines and books or museums and art.

Beware: Your ability to overlook a troubling spot in the book, could impact your ability to edit later. Highlight anything you have questions on, so you won’t forget and can address them later.

BOTH:

If you’re a bit of both a plotter and pantser, you combine the best of both types of writing. You plan, but don’t stifle. You go off on tangents, but always bring the story back on point. A loose end can always be addressed in the sequel. You write with purpose, but allow for changes in direction. When you think about writing you try to figure out what works for you and your style.

When you plan your books, you should: mix and match techniques, try something new each time, and keep doing something that worked before for you.

Beware: You can fall down a rabbit-hole of either plotter or pantser techniques if you’re not careful. It’s like fad diets – if it’s not working for you, drop it.

I, myself, fall into the “Both” category. I keep folders organized for each book on my computer. They contain all my research, fragments of scenes that I started, but continued in another direction or removed entirely, and inspiration from drawings, images, videos, etc. I have pretty much compiled a guide to my world that I can access at the drop of a hat with pronunciation guides, maps, character bios, etc. I keep a notebook filled with the finer details about my characters, places, and world. It contains note cards I have received about my books from fans and advertisements I have done to promote the books. It’s my touchstone and my keepsake of this precious journey I’ve gone on.

How about you? Where do you fall? What techniques do you use?

Book 8 Launch Party Tomorrow!

Games Include:

Blog Tour Stop: Head Hopping when Writing Stories