Sunday, September 10, 2017

Making Every Word Count

You'd think if you're writing a book that's 70,000 to 85,000 words that not every single one would matter. You as an author can let some things slide. Just telling the story is hard enough without dissecting every sentence and every paragraph.

And you'd be wrong.

I took the first chapter of the first draft of my newest endeavor to a full-day workshop yesterday, taught by Margie Lawson. The workshop was divided into parts, the first being Power Openings. She offered twenty points to check out in your opening. Things like: Is the first line your POV character's line? Uh, no. The story's about one of three sisters who heads west as a mail-order bride, but my first sentence has all three in it. Had all three in it. The reader couldn't tell who the story will be about. I hauled out my red pen and sliced through the first paragraph.

Then, we moved on to Power words. This part of the workshop was fun, since we had to exchange our work with another at the table and circle the power words in their work. Power words heighten the emotion, the tension. The words circled in my first paragraph were as follows: graves, parents, graveyard, fresh mounds. Immediately, you, the reader, know what's going on. And how this situation would affect the POV character.

In the afternoon, we moved on to Rhetorical Devices. Rhetorical Devices are essentially playing with words for a greater impact. I just used one of Margie's Top 20 by using the two word description at the end of one sentence and then at the start of the very next one. There are 19 other ones as well, some of which give my current editor fits. Such is the life of an author.

The last segment was about character descriptions. I thought I had gotten pretty good at describing my characters by now. I no longer stop the action and provide a head-to-toe description. But I do tend to use and reuse the same types of descriptive words to signal hair color, lip color, dimples, freckles, etc.
I need to liven things up without resorting to purple prose. If you think that's a fine line, you're absolutely right. It's what moves a book from the mid-list to the New York Times list.

I'm about 20,000 words into this story and thought it was moving along at a good clip. But I think, rather than getting the story down in a flash format from start to finish, I need to go back over these 20,000 and examine every word, every sentence, every paragraph, and use what I learned in the workshop. If I can apply what I learned to this part, and make every word count, maybe it'll become second nature to me when I get back to the story line.

At least that's the plan.

14 comments:

  1. I did a week writing emersion retreat with Margie at her home in Golden Colorado. She’s amazing. I’m going to do it again.
    Best,
    Tema Merback
    Writing as Belle Ami

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    1. I had hoped to do the same, Tema, since she held a week-long class in Cleveland before the workshop. However, life and my house had other plans.

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  2. Thank you for sharing and the best on the first 20,000 and the ones to follow. Doris

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    1. Thanks for visiting today and also thanks for the words of encouragement.

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  3. I've attended several online writing classes through Margie Lawson's academy. Especially the ones taught by Rhay Christou were really eye opening. They helped me completely shift my writing approach and make it modern and closer to what the reader wants.

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    1. I took the three classes needed before the immersion class, but have yet to take the final step and immerse myself completely. But there's another online one in November that I want to do. Great info is presented in each.

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  4. Some very intriguing pointers. Thanks for sharing Becky! I'm going to check Margie Lawson out for courses.

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    1. Thanks, Diane. It was a very eye-opening workshop. Glad you visited today.

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  5. That sounds like a fabulous experience and something that needs to go on my to-do list. Thanks for the info and inspiration!

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    1. I'd recommend it, Beth, anytime Margie comes close to your area. The workshop really opened my eyes.

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  6. I bought a class but haven't worked my way through it yet. I wanted to do the week in Colorado. Maybe 2019. I wish my chapter would bring her into St. Louis again.

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    1. I'd like to do the week in Colorado, too. Would be fun to do it together.

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  7. Becky, Thanks so much for sharing. So very interesting and always good advise to remember. I'll keep my eye out for argie's workshops. This type of advice and reopening of one's eyes and mind is always so very worthwhile and useful. Thanks again.

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    1. Beverly--I'm honored that you visited my blog. I agree, Margie knows of what she speaks. This was a great workshop. She also offers on-line courses. One in November is about writing historical fiction. We could probably both benefit from that one.

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