Newbie Alert: Words to Stay Away From

As I wade through the choppy waters of revisions, I see these very words marked out of my script. If you're like me, you're probably wondering ... how else am I to write these sentences?

Turns out there are lots of other ways to write without using words considered a big 'no-no' for seasoned writers. I'm also told editors, agents, and publishers alike find them cringe worthy.
I only know this because my line by line edit came back littered with words for me to get rid of. Rather frustrating but newbies like myself should take joy in honing the craft :)

Choosing Your Character Names

Have you ever been in the midst of typing a story when a character you just created badly needed a name? When the regular Mary, John, Paul or Sue wouldn't do? If the answer is yes, then join the club, a lot of writers and aspiring authors have this problem, myself included. Fact is, if you're writing a story, chances are you will need a character and that character will need a name. 

So what do you do? How do people come up with these names?  

There are actually several ways to go about this:

Look Around You

In my case, specifically, if it's a minor character, you know, like an odd stranger or villager, I simply pick names from the people around me ... a la co-workers . Consider also the names of family members, friends, colleagues etc that could come in handy.

However, for major characters,I generally recommend a bit more effort.

First Drafts Sucks

  So after completing my very 1st draft of my first manuscript. I felt sooo good...like I had climbed Mount Everest or achieved something phenomenal.

I must have walked around the house the with a huge smile on my face. Nothing could get me down; I had just completed a manuscript of 82,000 words! and I felt pretty kick ass about it. You know like there was nothing I couldn't accomplish, like Mount Everest was next; oh the joy, rapture, elation (you get the drift)...

until a couple days later, I sat down, ready to begin my second draft and this happened!


via GIPHY

My balloon of happiness deflated immediately. No seriously, my 82,000 words of awesomeness morphed into work littered with grammatical errors and unfinished sentences.. half of which barely made sense. Needless to say, depression immediately followed and self-doubt reared its ugly head.


via GIPHY

"Maybe I can't write at all? Why am I doing this again? What happened to my masterpiece?" These are just few of  the questions that drive you INSANE! For newbies this can be especially disconcerting. Fact is my words were clearly lost in space or somewhere in my head and needed to make it to my manuscript.

You probably guessed but my second draft consisted of several re-writes, cuts, tweaks and lots more drafts.

If it weren't for the articles I came across supporting the idea that first drafts of anything are rarely ever good, I'm pretty sure my devastation would have lasted much longer than it did. So newbies, chin up and keep at it.

Why interacting with agents is important.

Last week, this time, I was participating in my first #askagent session on twitter! I really liked it and a few agents actually answered my questions.