How to be a Killer 101

If you've been following along with our theme of "killing your darlings" in the month of May, you've gotten lots of great advice. And one unrelated but super catchy Disney song, which, I mean, is a bright light amidst such a dark and twisted topic as killing. But back to the killing now.

Welcome to your new class. How to be a Killer 101. I've brought you four (well, technically five) fictional killers to give you quick killer tips based on their expertise.

[DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. All dialogue is purely fanfiction.]

Dexter Morgan, from Dexter

Source: Giphy.com

Dexter: Keep your killing neat. Cleanup after yourself. Trim the parts no one will miss so no one will come looking. Leave the world a better place and no one will be motivated to look into a disappearance too much. Especially if you play the part of pleasant little writer so they don't suspect you.

Lesson: Don't hack away at your book like a madman. Step back and look at what won't be missed. What doesn't contribute to your story? Get rid of it, tidy up, and move on to the next.

Norman Bates, from Bates Motel

Source: Giphy.com

Norman in his mother's dress: My son doesn't know what's good for him. That's why I look out for him. He's my baby. A little naive. But I know best. I'm a very capable woman, wouldn't you agree? And he spends time with such terrible influences...

Lesson: If you can't see what darlings you need to kill in your story, get a different perspective. Sometimes that means asking critique partners, and sometimes that means blacking out, putting on your mother's dress, and looking at things through her point of view.

Sylar from Heroes

Source: Giphy.com

Sylar: Which is better? To have a few people with powers who don't appreciate the intricacy...the importance of their gifts? Or to have one worthy person wield all that power and not waste it?

Lesson: It's better to have one super badass character with depth and layers than to have multiple characters taking up space. You might need to kill a couple darlings to condense them into one character.

Huck and Quinn from Scandal

Source: Giphy.com

Quinn: Okay, writers, you ready to kill? You better be because this is messy business. You think I'm kidding? Look me in the eyes and and tell me if I'm kidding. I_will_kill if I have to. I'm ready. Are you?

Huck: I think they get it.

Quinn: Oh they get it? They don't get it. They're not twisted enough. Not desperate enough. But I am. I need the answers, and I'll do whatever it takes to get them.

Huck: [dark, twisty gleam in his eyes] Like killing.

Quinn: Like killing.

Lesson: For some people, killing your darlings can be fun, but don't get all dark and twisty for no reason. If you have to, you have to. If your story isn't working, kill what needs to be killed. Get to the bottom of the problem at all costs. Your book depends on it.

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Jessie Mullins is a mommy blogger who writes YA and shares bookish things on Facebook. She's married to her highschool sweetheart and has an adorable toddler son.

Editing and the Five Stages of Grief

Happy Mother’s Day! Hope everyone reading had a fun, relaxing day with the kids or hanging out with Mom.

Reflecting on Mother’s Day made me think of how the creative process is often compared to childbirth. Novel writing is no exception. It can easily take nine months (sometimes longer!) to finish a writing project, editing being the hardest, lengthiest part. Most writers will agree they love drafting but hate editing. Why is it so painful to go back and review your own words? I know for me it’s tough to reread what I’ve written because I’m either too critical where I shouldn’t be and not tough enough where it counts. It’s brutal to admit that a favorite scene, a beloved character, or even a gratuitous line may not work and should be cut to improve the overall pacing, plot, and/or cast. So, as with a death or loss, the editing process can be subject to the five stages of grief: 

First comes denial: So what the word count of my YA novel is 150K? Surely the right agent will see the necessity of every single word and will fall in love with the project anyway. Their enthusiasm will exude as they pitch the story, and it will sell, as is, even though it’s twice as long as average and it’s a debut. George RR Martin’s first book in A Song of Ice and Fire was 300K, after all!

Then comes anger and maybe a touch of righteous indignation: How dare they (critique partner, beta reader, friend, agent, editor) say that (scene, character, line) doesn’t work? They just don’t get the story!! How can they expect me to hack away at what was surely created through divine inspiration, not to mention my own blood, sweat, and tears??

Bargaining: Okay, well, maybe if I just cut a few extraneous words, I can keep this scene …

Then depression and reluctant acceptance sets in: This is when you begin to realize making tough changes is necessary and will strengthen the overall story.

This is the time to really take a critical eye to the pages. Even though all the characters are like your children, you may find one of them isn’t moving the story forward, may be detrimental to the pacing, and needs to go.

As hard as it is to cut characters, sometimes deleting scenes is even more difficult. One scene can often change the outcome of the story, and if that pivotal event could (or should) be cut, even if that means rewriting the last third of the novel, it has to be done.

But what about those instances where changes will make the story different, not necessarily better. Maybe the advice you received was simply a personal preference of the reader. How can you tell the difference?

If more than one person gives you similar feedback about a scene or a plot point or if you’re not getting the response to a certain character the way you intended, it’s time to reevaluate. The critique can sting at first, but it’s best to wait a few days, let the advice sink in, and then go back with the red pen and mark up your work. It’s like chipping away at a slab of marble-- most edits will streamline and polish the story and let the really important points shine through. And in the end, your work will be improved, your message will be clearer, and the overall story will be all the better for it.

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

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