Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Kill Em

I had this character once whom I adored. Her dialogue was so easy to write and she was young, scrappy, and hungry, and I'm not giving away my shot. Oh  I loved her! I even named her after my childhood best friend and this character, in my mind, became a vital part of the book.

Everyone who read this character LOVED her and so when I first got a note from a CP that they loved the character, but that she didn't seem to have enough agency and kind of seemed pointless, I was like, "What? WRONG."

I brushed off that note and kept revising, but there was something about it that stuck with me. As I kept revising, I began to see what my CP was talking about. Her role in the story was spotty. She didn't seem to have enough of a purpose to be on the page all the time. She lacked a lot of depth outside her role of spurring the MC onto new plot points. Yeah she was funny and sarcastic and challenged my MC, but was that enough?

Sadly, I realized that my most favorite character I've ever written needed to go. Y'all, I was sad. It was truly like killing one of my kids—or like taking a time machine and altering the space-time continuum so that there was no kid ever in the first place.

It ended up being a much better thing. I was able to combine her character with another one and it COMPLETELY changed the pacing of the story for good. More than the benefit to the story, having the guts to cut her character (and all those awesome dialogue lines) gave me courage as a writer. Sometimes it can be hard to cut thousands of words. You're afraid you'll never get them back—as if revising them out means 10k less words you'll ever be able to write in your lifetime. But we both know that's not true.

Killing your darlings is a tough, but necessary tool writers have to use. We can't be a slave to our characters or even plots, we have to be always be writing in service to the story.

So if you're having a tough time with a particular plot line or a character, take a risk and remove it. See what happens! You might just find your story is stronger because of it.

Want to connect?

Find me at www.destinycole.com

or follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @destinywrites

Motivation-Mania

*Phone rings*
*Glances at number*
*Recognizes a NYC area code*
*Panics*
*Imagines the feelings of bliss you're about to feel*
*Presses answer*
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hi, I saw that you had recently inquired into...

NOOOOO! But I can't be the only person this has happened to. An excited writer waiting for "The Call" and getting a salesperson who so cruely is calling from New York City.
April Fools Day indeed.

It can be so easy at times to feel like that call is never going to happen. To feel like you're drowning in a sea of "no's" or "almost-but-not-quite-theres."

In an effort to live a life of transparency, I'm going to be honest and say I've been struggling with my motivation hard core. I poured my heart and soul into a book that has failed to capture that "yes." I've gotten a lot of "almosts," so many that it can break your heart much more than if everyone was just a big ol, "nope."

I've been trying to focus on my next book, but my self-confidence and motivation have taken a beating over the last few months. Trying to refill the well, I picked up Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert.

It slapped me around with the truth that creative living is not tied to goals, it's tied to a journey. A journey I'm privileged to be on. I loved this excerpt:

“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege. Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us. Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul, and I promise—you can make anything. So please calm down now and get back to work, okay? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.” 

Good stuff, huh? Then you add it to this:

“But to yell at your creativity, saying, “You must earn money for me!” is sort of like yelling at a cat; it has no idea what you’re talking about, and all you’re doing is scaring it away, because you’re making really loud noises and your face looks weird when you do that.” 

 Love that!

So here's where we're at now: Creativity can't be tied to a goal. It can't be forced to perform on demand. It must be fed. It needs to allow you to feel.

So if you're running on empty, it may be time for a perspective change.

Want to connect?

Find me at www.destinycole.com

or follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @destinywrites

Falling Back in Love with Your Manuscript

One of the most exciting parts of writing is that puppy love phase. 

You know what I’m talking about. It’s those early days as you’re fleshing out your characters and defining your plot points. You spend hours selecting the perfect character name. You take the time to carefully research the city or world you’re writing about and giggle over your character’s idiosyncrasies. You cry—real actual tears—as you describe their heartbreaking lives. Your story is real and you honestly think it’s the best thing you’ve ever written. Those first 10,000 words or so just flow and sure, maybe you hit a few bumps in the road, but you keep going until you type “The End.”

But we writers know that the first “The End” is actually only the beginning. First revision, CP note revisions, Beta reader revisions, agent revisions, then editor revisions, then copyeditor revisions…

How many times can you re-read your own words without your eyes crossing and you drop-kicking your laptop out a 3^rd story window? You begin to question everything. The story is awful. The characters dull. The plot done a million times before. You've officially fallen out of love with your manuscript.

If you’re anything like me, the above is not dramatic; it's real life when writing a book. Once you do a few revision rounds on a manuscript, you never want to HEAR about your story again, let alone keep implementing fresh ideas.

But we have to. It’s our job as writers to continue to improve our stories and cut away the fluff and layer in the meaning. It’s what makes writing magic.

So how can you stay engaged in your revisions and fall back in love with your manuscript?

• Put it aside. Sometimes the best thing you can do is not look at your manuscript for a week or two. Yes, maybe that will delay a deadline, but beating your head against a brick wall delays deadlines too.
• Change up the order. Start at the end and revise forward. Maybe reading it a different way will help you get out of the rut and also help you see pacing issues you don’t always see reading chronologically. Or if it's dual POV, work on only one POV at a time. That way you can work on staying in one "voice" at a time.
• Work on a different medium. Do you write in Scrivner? Do a revision round in Word. Tired of reading on a computer? Print it out and mark up sections in the margins. Read it on your Kindle and keep a notepad of notes where you want to make changes. The bottom line is mix it up a little. Sometimes just viewing it on a different medium can make all the difference in the world.

It doesn’t matter what you do, the bottom line is don’t give up. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in that rut of this will never be done and “OH, I have this wonderful new shiny idea that would be SO much better than this dumpster fire of trash.” Keep pressing through because the world needs your words.

Want to connect?

Find me at www.destinycole.com

or follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @destinywrites

Finding Focus

Happy New Year everyone!

I can still say that, right?

I mean, we’re just four days in.

2017 has me joining YAtopia and I couldn’t be more excited about it! But first? An introduction! Hailing from the great state of Texas (Go Cowboys), my name is Destiny Cole and I truly love chips and queso more than I love most humans.

I’m a YA writer who focuses on thrillers and mysteries, but everything I write tends to have a dark slant. I am without a doubt one of those writers who writes the questions I’m trying to understand. And sometimes those questions make people (myself included) a little uncomfortable. But I think that’s important. We need to come face to face with our own bias/ideologies sometimes to know what they truly are.

My writing is represented by my incredible literary agent, Kirsten Carleton of Prospect Agency. She is a tireless advocate and one of the best editors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. I hope to be able to share some good news with you soon about books being published, but for now, I’m still on the journey!

When I’m not on my laptop writing fiction, I’m still on my laptop writing. I work in digital marketing and social media so there are very few days that I don’t spend staring at a computer screen, coming up with catchy phrases, writing the same copy 9 different ways, or creating marketing plans… and yes I have carpal tunnel and it SUCKS. 

So, that’s me! Hi everyone! *waves*

But since this is indeed the new year, I thought it might be good to share something that I’ve been learning over the last few months. It can be summed up in one word: focus.

Or rather, what I’ve realized is my LACK of focus.

I spent the last 6 months of the year getting pulled in a hundred different directions and I said yes to all of them. It’s true that some of them were helpful to my day job, some were helpful to my writing career, some were great for my family… but many of them just took up my time and spread me too thin.

So, this year, as we stare at a fresh new calendar, I hope you’ll join me in listing out your priorities and then being brave enough to say no if you’re given an opportunity that doesn’t line up.

We can’t get to where we’re going if we’re constantly stopping.

Here’s to a focused 2017.

Want to connect?

Find me at www.destinycole.com

or follow me on Twitter or Instagram: @destinywrites