Wait, I Take It Back

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

I felt so stupid and angry. I didn’t want to forgive Brian, not ever, and I wasn’t ready to forgive myself. It just seemed so easy to forgive Tom, because he was so f***ing pathetic, because I didn’t want to start over. 

Stories usually have a lot of twists and turns. Not everything that happens is going to be expected. If you want to keep the reader entertained, including a few surprises could be a good way to go. But how do you get things back on track after you've included a surprise? Does it lead your characters down a completely new road or is it more of a detour? 

What happens after the twist will probably depend on how big it is, or how it relates to the overall story. Is it something life changing or just something that temporarily throws your characters off? How do you recover from a twist (if recovery is even possible)? 

My issue is that I feel like I recover from my twist too quickly. There's something that happens at the end of Chapter 17 that is completely unexpected. I love the twist. LOVE IT. So much so that I'm not going to explain it and spoil it. I love everything about it, how it comes out of left field, my narrator's response to it. It's pretty much perfect (I think...). What I worry about is how fast I smooth things over. In the next chapter, actually. 

Basically one character does something bad to another. It seems like their relationship is over, but then some other unrelated bad things happen and the second character changes his mind. Then the character who did the bad thing explains why he did it and apologizes. And then we're back to normal. 

I just hope that the chain of events leading up to the apology doesn't make it seem so strange. But I also worry that the character's explanation basically takes back the bad thing he did. It's not completely swept under the rug but it's pretty much forgotten within a few chapters. Does this totally ruin the shock of the twist? Or should I find some other way to keep its impact going as the book continues? 

Do you ever "take things back" in a story? How do you deal with a twist?

Voice

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

Great. Just fabulous. I mean, really. What the hell, why didn’t we just have everyone watch us going at it? It would have been a great show. Watch the f** try to f*** the desperate whore. Who knows what could happen?!

One of the few good things about working on the same novel for over five years is that at this point, I have the voice down. It is done, it's developed, it's perfect in my mind. It certainly may not be everyone's cup of tea ("Who has tea??" Jordan says. "You made tea and didn't make me a cup?!"), but neither is the whole book. For this book, and for this character in particular, the voice works.

Voice is a tricky thing. What you need can depend on a lot of things. Each character should have his/her own distinct voice when they speak, but that doesn't necessarily come up on every page. Your narrator's voice does, though. And if the book is in first person, you're actually writing from a character's point of view. As you read, you're experiencing everything through his eyes and his words. You want it to sound like a real person is telling the story. That's where voice comes in.

Everyone has a certain way of speaking. Your narrator's voice should be distinct from the other characters in the book. We should actually believe that this person would use these words to tell the story. When I first started writing UL, it did not sound like a teenage boy was telling the story. It sounded like a twentysomething girl was, well, because that's who was writing it. Voice doesn't always come to you right away. Sometimes just getting the story down first is more important. But developing a distinct voice for your narrator will not only make the story believable, but hopefully more enjoyable.

Honestly, the first thing I did to develop Jordan's voice was just to throw a lot of swears in. I figured that was a totally plausible thing for a teenager to be doing. I cut the big, lengthy words that he would never use and replaced them with more believable ones (like "bullsh**" for "pretense," that was a good one!). I didn't shy away from fragments. I added little phrases that I probably will need to cut down on in the third draft, like all the "I mean"s and "really"s and "I mean, really"s.

I guess the one thing I worry about is that some people won't like the voice. But I guess those are the same people who wouldn't like the book anyway. But some people are turned off by swears. I almost didn't include the end of the above quote until I realized that was kind of the point. If Jordan wasn't swearing all the time, it would probably seem weird. I know that limits my audience a bit, but I just think it's more believable, and it's something unique to his voice. There are other characters in the book who never swear, but he's definitely not one of them. So why would his narration be any different than his dialogue?

Figuring out the voice can depend on a lot of things. Who your character is, what point in his life he's telling his story from, or just how he speaks in general. It can take a long time to develop, but as long as the narrator has a unique voice, that will make the story come alive even more.

How do you develop a character's voice? Do you mind reading books with swears?

Unseen Forces

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

“So when do I get to meet your sister?” I asked when I finally took a second to breathe instead of eat. I said it like this was something completely normal to ask. Really, I just wanted to see how he would react. 
He just glared at me for a second before shaking his head. “You’re hilarious.”

Every story is like a bubble. Everything that happens in the story takes place inside of that bubble. All of the action, dialogue, and moments that the reader actually reads over the course of the book. But that doesn't necessarily mean that these things are all that matter. We can still see through that bubble, where there are all kinds of outside influences.

Unless your story is following a particular character from their birth to their death, then really, we're just looking at a particular moment in his/her life. What is happening in this life snapshot will obviously be the most important part of the story, but that doesn't mean that what has happened before it isn't important. Your characters have already lived some of their lives and that has shaped who they are. Some of that may show up in your story.

Take background information, for example. Stuff like this occasionally needs to come up within a story--things that happened long before the book began but whose influence is heavy on the characters and story. The background story on Jordan's mom plays a big role in UL, for example. It weighs heavily on their relationship and how he lives his life. Without some of that information sneaking in now and then, their relationship within the story may not make sense. What has happened before the story begins will still find ways of influencing the characters from time to time.

Not every single influence is necessarily seen in the story, either. If you think about one character in your story, then think about every person they know and that has influenced them in some way, that would probably be a lot of people to include in one book. I have a few unseen characters who are mentioned here and there throughout the story, Jordan's mom's boss and Tom's sister in particular. These unseen characters influence the lives of the story's actual characters, but there just isn't a spot for these characters to actually show up. You don't want to force these characters into the story if they just don't fit, but if their influence is still there, maybe they need to be mentioned from time to time.

There are things and people outside of your story that will occasionally influence what is happening within it. How much information you share about these things will be entirely up to you.

Do you have unseen forces or characters that influence your stories?

Trilogy

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

“So once we find someone who plays bass we could actually start playing.” 

“Make sure he’s cute.” 

Finding a quote for today's post was rather difficult. When I first wrote Uneven Lines, I had zero intention of writing any sequels. It was always a stand alone book in my mind. Consequently, there aren't really any lines in it that hint at a sequel. The line about finding a bass player for Jordan and Eric's band was just supposed to be a joke. I had no idea that person would a) eventually exist, b) actually be a love interest for Jordan, or c) turn out to be a "certified cutie" (possible Book 2 description). Or that he would bother me relentlessly about the sequels when they weren't even supposed to exist in the first place!

But let's rewind. At what point to you decide to write a sequel to a story? I guess it's probably different for every writer, for every story, even. You may know a particular story needs to be a trilogy before you even begin writing it. For me, that was never the case. I just came up with a story and I wrote it. It was never supposed to be anything else. But then the main character decided to attach himself to my brain. I started thinking about what would happen to him after the story ended. It wasn't always terribly interesting; most of these brainstorms were just for fun. But eventually an idea for a second book started to form in my mind. I was considering things that I never thought I would when I was writing the first book, characters whose existence was never even mentioned, but would actually be so important in Jordan's life. So I had Book 2. Well, an idea, at least.

My hesitation for writing Book 2 was mostly based on the fact that I had no idea when or if this series would end. Should I just keep writing Jordan's stories for the rest of my life? Or was there a place to cut it off? I didn't want to start Book 2 without some sort of endgame in mind. And at the very least, I knew UL could stand on its own without any sequels.

But then suddenly I had an idea for Book 3 , and I totally blame Adam, the aforementioned cute bass player. He's the one who threw the ideas at me and they stuck. Which, interestingly enough, is exactly what Jordan did to me with the first book. My characters tend to control things more than I do. The thing about Book 3, though, is that it would completely tie up the series. Instead of having no end in mind, suddenly I had a trilogy. It seemed perfect and yet daunting at the same time.

I worry about how people will react to the sequels. If they think the first book is good, will they think the sequels are as good? I certainly think the sequels will have a different tone than the first book. Jordan is fifteen in UL, but he'll be twenty in Book 2 and twenty-two in Book 3. I think Book 2 goes to some very dark places, whereas Book 3 does the opposite, there's a lot of happy fluffiness. Do all these books actually fit together? Will anyone even care to read them? Will they wish I had just left the first book alone?

I can't really worry about the sequels too much without getting the first book done. I know I want to write these books for me, and I will. I know I want to publish UL, but I'm not so sure about the sequels yet. I guess I'll have to write them first and see how they turn out.

Should I write the sequels to Uneven Lines? When do you decide to write sequels to your stories?

Setting

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

Yeah, some people like the bright lights, the noises, pushing through crowds of people without caring whose feet you step on. Me, not so much. 

One of the elements you have to decide for your story is where it takes place. This can involve the overall setting (a city), or just where each scene takes place (a particular room). The setting should always feel right, both for the story and for each individual scene. 

When you're choosing your overall setting, you want to think about what works for the story. This can include place as well as time period. I wanted my story to take place in modern day New York City for a few different reasons. A major reason is that I needed a place where a teenager would be able to get around on his own and without a lot of money. I lived in a suburb when I was growing up and the only way you could get around was if your parents drove you. Kind of hard to sneak around and pull off a secret relationship. I needed Jordan to have a certain level of independence and the setting is a huge part of that. He can just hop on the subway and go wherever he wants. If I set the story in a different place, it may not be as believable and a lot of elements would have to change. 

When you're describing your setting, you'll want to include what's important to the scene. This could be a building or just a piece of furniture. A lot of my scenes take place indoors so there's a lot of describing couches and kitchen appliances. But I try not to overdo it, to not mention something unless it's actually being used. When Jordan first visits Tom's apartment, we get an overall description of what it looks like, but after that, there are only references to certain things throughout the book whenever it's necessary. You don't have to give vast descriptions of every single place in every scene. Just give whatever's necessary. 

Certain settings can be right or wrong depending on what is happening in each individual scene, as well. Maybe an argument between your characters shouldn't take place while they're scuba diving (although that could be funny...). Or a very private conversation probably shouldn't happen in a public place. Ok, I actually broke my own rule. A private conversation takes place between my characters in a diner. But when it was the first draft, the things they were saying were a bit on the extreme side. Rather than changing the setting for the conversation, I changed the conversation for the setting. I think it actually helped in the long run because now the dialogue is more subdued and not so ridiculous. 

Whatever you choose for your setting, you want it to work for your story. It can be as important or unimportant as you want it to be, as long as it's believable. 

How do you choose setting? 

Reliable (?) Narrator

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

I sighed, trying to hide my relief. I mean, I wasn’t jealous. No way. It was just—he was mine, you know? 

When you have a first person narrator, the reader isn't always going to know if he/she is telling the truth. Sometimes you have an unreliable narrator. They may tell an interesting story, but it may be skewed by their viewpoints or just what they're willing to share with the reader.

I don't think Jordan is necessarily an unreliable narrator. He does tell it like it is, at least when it comes to what is happening in the story. He even shares certain things with the reader before he shares them with any character in the story. Where I think that reliability starts to become shaky is when he has to tell the reader what he's feeling. He's really not all that emotional of a person, and when he has to open up to someone, whether it's another character or just the reader, he may not be entirely truthful.

There's a particular moment where he describes what he is feeling physically, mentioning his eyes stinging and blinking frantically, but not once does he acknowledge what that actually means--that he was trying not to cry. Because he would never want to admit that to anyone.

So he doesn't necessarily lie to the reader, but does he lie to himself? Probably. He's all about being in control of every single situation, so if he feels like he doesn't have control, he's probably not going to tell you. He wants everyone to believe that nothing can get to him and that includes the reader. That's one of the reasons I think he can be very vulnerable at times, but you have to look really hard to find it under the surface.

So if the narrator doesn't share everything with the reader, is he unreliable? And does that work? I think if he was constantly changing his story or telling outright lies to the reader it may get confusing. But when it seems like a certain pattern, like only telling certain things, it may actually show us more about his character. You may learn as much from what he doesn't tell you than from what he does.

Have you ever used an unreliable narrator? Do you think a first person narrator should always be honest with the reader?

Queries & Publishing

**My theme for this year's A to Z Challenge is THE REVISION PROJECT. Topics I come across while I write the third draft of my novel, Uneven Lines.**

What’s left, anyway, after something is complete? You just move on to the next thing. 

A lot of these posts (or all of them...) have been about stuff that's actually within the story. Well, not this one! This is about what happens after the book is done. Just what the heck am I gonna do with it? 

Nowadays there are more options for authors once their book is ready to be published. We don't necessarily have to go the traditional publishing route. I don't really know the first thing about self-publishing, but sometimes I feel like it may be the best choice for this particular book. Well, because I'm just not sure if anyone will want to publish it. 

I know getting a book published is a long struggle. I know rejections are to be expected. I'm just not sure how likely I am to get that final "yes" after an endless sea of "no"s. But that doesn't mean I won't even try. I'm going to hold out hope that there is someone out there who is my literary agent soul mate. Someone who will get it. Not someone who will just cringe at the idea and not even give it a try. Really, that's what I want out of my readers, too. Just people who will get it. 

I've thought about a query letter. The one I wrote for Pitch Wars was complete rubbish so I'm not even going to look at it. I'm pretty sure I deleted it anyway. What I'd like to pull off with my query is to sell the book like I'm trying to get myself to read it. Well, I know I like my book. I know the reasons why. If I want to get someone interested in it, I think those points will be important to point out. If I just give a summary of what happens on the surface, it will turn most people off. But if I try to dig deep and really find a way to sell this story like the story that I know it is, maybe people will give it a shot. 

That being said, if the traditional publishing route doesn't work, I'm definitely up for self-publishing. It's so scary that I don't even want to think about it right now. I will cross that bridge if and when I come to it. I certainly want this book to see the light of day since I've worked so hard on it and despite all my incredible insecurities, I am passionate about it. 

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. First I have to finish the third draft. Then I need to get some real life (as in, more than one) beta readers. I'll probably put out a request at some point once the draft is done (this post isn't it! The title will probably be something like "BETA READERS WANTED" with fireworks gifs all through the post). Then while they have it maybe I'll start figuring out my query and where I want to send it. Then editing, and, well, you get it. But of course, the writing has to come before all of that nonsense. 

Would you rather find a publisher or self publish? How do you approach a query letter?