Archive for the ‘writing a novel’ Category
Writing a Novel: the chapter table
I have a tool I have used to help my writing process. I have used it for years, so I know it works. I think of it as ‘my chapter table.’
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After I have finished my first draft and have done at least one edit of the entire draft, I create a table. I usually do this before I choose my chapter beginnings and endings. Part of the purpose of the table is to determine those beginnings and endings.
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The table records information about many aspects of the novel: chapters, chapter title, chapter length (page numbers), includes characters, settings, and (because I illustrate my books) possible topics for illustration.
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Here is a sample table, used for my in-progress Rural Mystery, The Road. The Road is an adventure/mystery about a woman on vacation who visits the places marked on a map, left by her Aunt Beth when she died.
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| chapter | title | pages | vacation day | characters | drawings |
| Prologue | — | 1 | 0 | Aunt Beth | none |
| 1 | vacation | 5 | 0 | ChelseaMason | Karmann Ghia |
| 2 | the plan | 5 | 0-1 | Chelsea Mason | Map and red dot |
| 3 | the chimney | 9 | 2 | Chelsea MasonJed | The chimney in the woods |
| 4 | cemetery | 9 | 3,4 | Chelsea | Cemetery |
| 5 | Money Point Road | 9 | 5 | Chelsea Mason | Lily of the valley Glamping dome Trail and mountain Soldier lichen |
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I can put the table to almost any use. So, for example, if I want to track a symbol used throughout the novel, I can indicate the occurrences here. I can also insert dates, if those are important to my story. As I think about changes to the action or characters, the table helps me find particular areas of the novel, without searching the entire draft.
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When you work at your next story, try my table method of keeping track of chapters, characters and action. I know there are many uses for such a table.
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All my best!
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
creating a cover: identifying a motif
As I prepare to release my new Urban Mysteries Series, I still have some work to do. Because I both write and illustrate my books, I also do my own covers. Selecting a motif or theme for a cover takes some thought.
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Most of my books focus on a central theme. The fifth book in the Urban Mystery Series (currently titled ‘Dancing with Trees‘) is set in Fredericton and tells the story of an artist who is making an drawn record of the trees in the community. As she draws, she encounters a mysterious woman who appears and dances with some of the trees. The woman is associated with an urban legend of a man and woman who hid a treasure in a local tree and vowed to only retrieve it together.
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Creating a book cover is a little different from ordinary painting. A cover must:
- represent the themes and symbols in the book;
- entice a reader to know more about the story;
- present a strong focal point;
- leave room for the title, and sub-title and the author’s name;
- consider the style of other books in the series.
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When I chose a theme for the cover of my book, I already have about twenty drawings to illustrate parts of the story. I choose one of the drawings and modify it to represent the story as a whole. The painting can be embellished by including various symbols from the story. In the case of my Kaye Eliot Mystery ‘How Her Garden Grew,’ I include a Grinning Tun, a sea shell that appears in the story, over and over.
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In the Urban Mystery, ‘Dancing with Trees,’ trees and dancers are central motifs. So, for the cover, I chose to paint one of the drawings in the book.
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I work with acrylics and seek to use only a set number of colours in the cover painting. This is partly to allow the font and colour of the lettering to show well on the cover. It also reduces the busy-ness of the image for the reader.
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In a few days, I will be able to reveal the look of the final cover for ‘Dancing with Trees.’
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
Meniscus Science Fiction Series: the extras
As I write the Meniscus Science Fiction Series, a very enjoyable task is to update the extras in each book:
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Ancient Argenop Wisdom: every book includes an associated line of ancient Argenop wisdom. The Argenops are the gentle rodent-like aliens who befriend the Humans. They became separated from the Dock-winders, in history and sentiment, when geology (The Fault) divided En’ast from Themble. I plan to do a full book collecting the wisdom of the ancient Argenops.
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The Meniscus Solar System: This is a fairly recent edition to the books. A representation of the solar system of Meniscus includes: the two suns (Tathlet and Amblyn), the planets (Aagle, Meniscus, Di-natha and Sel), and the Meniscus moons (Cardoth roe and Cardoth grill-en).
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This is Meniscus, a planet far from Earth: this is an introductory bit, meant to introduce readers of every book to some background information about the planet Meniscus. The text includes the odd behavior of water on the planet, a description of the landscape, the various aliens encountered, and a short history of the Slain. Oddly, this is the section I have occasionally forgotten to include in every book.
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The Maps: Producing the maps of the planet Meniscus is essential to the writing since the stories are chronicles of the Human travels through the landscape. I produce the maps in GIMP, so I am able to highlight certain features of interest to a particular book. I also include a dotted line showing the path of the travels of the main characters. At first, only the east and west maps for Prell-nan South District were shown. As the adventure expanded, maps for east and west halves of Prell-nan North District were included. In the upcoming adventure Meniscus: The Reckoning, readers will see El’ban District, often mentioned in the earlier books.
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North District
(West Half)
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The Cast of Characters: I include all of the characters in the Series, whether they occur in the current book or not. The notes on the characters are meant to explore a brief history of each character: Human, Slain, Argenop, Dock-winder, Gel-head, and Others, including the pets. This section was added to books after …. at the suggestion of one of my terrific beta-readers.
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Glossary: Various unfamiliar words used by Humans in the story are explained here. They include measurements, names of plant and animal life, and items found on the planet of Meniscus. Some of these are names borrowed from the local aliens, and others are names the Humans have devised for various items, based on their experience on Earth or with other Humans.
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nodding woodland flower
corms edible
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A Condensed Guide to Gel-speak: The dictionary, at first short, has grown with each book – there are now 180 words in the Gel-speak dictionary. Although most Gel-speak is translated right in the text, readers may like to find out how an idea is expressed in Gel-speak as the translation is not literal. So ‘genetic material’ is translated as ath-elan-elana, literally ‘body memory.’
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The next book in the Series, Meniscus: The Struggle will be released in the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to having a release and book signing in August, details to be announced here.
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If you haven’t read any of the Meniscus books, there are a couple of places to jump in to the action:
Meniscus: Oral Traditions
Meniscus: Rosetta Stone
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All my best,
keep reading!
Alexandra, a.k.a. Jane
Book Covers: from sketch to design
In producing my science fiction books, one of the many tasks is to produce a book cover for each book. I could hire this step out, but I made a decision early in my author experience to feature both my art and writing in producing my books.
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There are ten (soon to be eleven) books in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series. Once I decided on the design for the first book (Meniscus: Crossing The Churn), I knew I wanted all the books in the series to follow a similar cover pattern. I liked the format of a single block showing the cover art and the general placement of title, volume number and author’s name. I also wanted all the cover art to show the two Meniscus moons (Cardoth-roe, the big moon, and Cardoth-grill’en, the little moon) and the characters in the book in silhouette.
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Creating a book cover takes four main steps.
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Step One is to consider how I want to present the book and what themes could be displayed.
Step Two is to do a black and white drawing of the cover.
Step Three is to do an acrylic painting of the drawing.
Step Four is to create a cover for the book, to be up-loaded to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) for both paperback and e-book editions.
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The only cover to depart from the pattern (no drawing was produced that led to the cover), was Book Seven, Meniscus: Encounter with the Emenpod. Here are the drawings and final covers for all the books after the first:
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There is one other book, Meniscus: One Point Five – Forty Missing Days, that should be shown. Its cover came from a painting done to welcome people to my sales table at various book fairs.
All my best,
Jane ( a.k.a. Alexandra)
the input of my editor
I have had one editor since the beginning of the Meniscus science fiction series. My editor is Lee Thompson of Lee Thompson Editing + ... his business headline says: ‘editorial and design services to help you navigate the word’ … for me the words ‘help’ and ‘word’ say what Lee’s guidance is all about.
https://leethompsonediting.com
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Lee has guided me through eleven books, challenging me to think deeply about the world of planet Meniscus. He has asked me if the dog-like Kotildi would ‘bark’ on an alien world. He has pointed out places where my poetic voice gets off-track. He always finds the places where I repeat words within a paragraph or stanza. He points out gaps in the action or logic. He tells me where he sees wobbles in my ‘Point of View.’ And his edits are delivered in a way that I laugh more often than I scowl.
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Speaking of scowling, Lee says my consistent flaw is that my characters ‘frown’ almost more often than they breathe.
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They frown …
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and frown …
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and frown …
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Lee says I am no longer allowed to use the word ‘frown’ in my books. I have ‘TTF’ (Tendency to Frown).
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Thanks to Lee, I frown less. Obtaining the services of a professional editor is one of the most important steps a writer can take. The best is to hire a great editor who will understand what you are trying to do and get you to see your own writing in a new way.
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All my best,
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
Meniscus: The Struggle … Creating the Cover
Sometimes choosing the theme for a book cover is difficult. Sometimes it is so easy.
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In my new book, Meniscus: The Struggle, Abra is trying to discover a way to overthrow the alien Dock-winders. As she wanders along the shore of the Vastness, she thinks she sees a Dock-winder from the corner of her eye.
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Startles as she sees a shadow.
Parody of Dock-winder physique—
purple, angular, thin,
long neck, single coil of hair.
Abra relaxes with a nervous laugh.
The shadow an anomaly, a teetering pile
of pebbles built
by some wandering child.
All the real Dock-winders
are gathered in arrogant bouquets
on the streets of Sintha, Enbricktow,
Prell and Bleth.
I liked this idea of the Dock-winders casting their shadows across the sands of Meniscus.
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The cover painting took less than a day to paint. The colours are mellow and there is lots of room for the cover text. All of the Meniscus books have included the two Meniscus moons: Cardoth roe and Cardoth grill’en.
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A lot of the work for the final book is done. The edit is complete, as are the drawings. I was without a scanner for a while but with our new printer, I can scan each drawing and place it in the text where it should be.
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Then I will order a proof and use it to make any final adjustments. Once my beta-reader has had a chance to react to the book, I will be ready to publish.
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June, sometime in June.
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All my best!
Alexandra, a.k.a. Jane
Book Cover – Land Between the Furrows
I have been working on the cover painting for the new book in the Kaye Eliot Mysteries: Land Between the Furrows.
First, I do a pencil drawing of the idea I have for the cover. In this book, grind stones from a local grist mill figure in the mystery.
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Then I do a painting, based on the pencil drawing. This painting is in acrylics, 16″ by 20″.
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Finally, I create the cover. This is, for me, the hardest step. I take the photo of the painting into GIMP, crop to get the correct dimensions (6″ by 9″) and scale the image to 360 dpi (pixels per inch). Then I bring the image into the KDP Cover Creater and add the text and so on.
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The book will be ready to go live on March 15, 2021.
All my best,
Jane
Coming Soon: New Title in the Kaye Eliot Mystery Series
Every afternoon, I spend some time working on reviewing/revising the proof of my new mystery in the Kaye Eliot Series. I have a cozy spot to work, in my big reading chair in front of the fireplace. Not hard to take a fanciful flight to Nova Scotia where the mystery unfolds.
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The new book focuses on stones of various types and the part they play in our history: gemstones, millstones, standing stones, building stones. It may take a while for readers to understand the title of the book: Land Between the Furrows.
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In each book, I include three illustrations. Here is one of the three: an old grist mill and its grind stones figure in the mystery. This drawing will be the basis for the painting featured on the book’s cover.
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In this book, Kaye finds a stack of very old postcards that tell the story of a missing stone. Kaye welcomes the chance to solve a puzzle with her kids but some of the visitors to the community make their sleuthing a little dangerous. Then the family discovers the ruin of an old stone house on an unexplored part of their property and finding the missing stone may be only part of their venture into history.
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Land Between the Furrows is planned for release on March 15, 2021. A perfect cozy mystery to enjoy during these long winter afternoons.
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All my best!
Jane
2021 writing plans
I am a planner by nature and so I have plans for my writing life in 2021. My main writing work will be to publish the third in my Kaye Eliot Mysteries: Land Between the Furrows and the ninth and tenth books in my science fiction series: Meniscus: Meeting of Minds and Meniscus: Rosetta Stone. These books are all in final draft, so my work will be to revise and format for publication. For creative work, I will begin drafting the fourth Kaye Eliot Mystery: Stained Glass.
I also want to continue with publication of my older poems. In 2020, I completed three books of these: ghosts are lonely here; niche; and blueberries and mink – summers on my grandfather’s farm.
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I have plans to repeat this in 2021. I have three poetry books in mind.
- waterfall : this manuscript won Honorable Mention in the Writers’ Federation Competition for the Alfred Bailey Poetry Prize in 2012; it includes poems about waterfalls in New Brunswick, about waterfalls inspired by Dante’s Inferno and about waterfalls as metaphors for struggles with relationship.
- mystery: poems about the mystery in my life. These would include whimsical interpretations of space and time, ghost stories, my approach to urban legend and nature myth, and perhaps my observations of the night sky.
- a glimpse of sickle moon: this manuscript won Third Place in the Writers’ Federation Competition for the Alfred Bailey Poetry Prize in 2020. These are poems about the natural world as it moves from season to season; deciding how to group the poems will be the biggest challenge.
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To complete these books, I will have to review/revise some of the poems, draw any associated illustrations and do the formatting.
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The agenda I set for myself may sound daunting, but I am driven by goals and I am retired, meaning I have lots of time to spend on this part of my life.
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All my best,
Jane
Starting a new book 3
So the first draft of my new Meniscus book is written. I have completed a Table to help me through revisions. Now I will do a series of scans to make certain the book is the best it can be.
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Revision 1: Refinements. I read through the draft, making edits and adjustments. This includes alterations to punctuation, alternative word selections, re-phrasing to refine the cadence, spelling, suiting of dialogue to character and so on. Of all the revision stages, this step takes the most time and effort.
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Revision 2. Continuity. Because my book is part of a series, I have to consider the action that occurs in previous books and in books-yet-to-come. I have thought through and written drafts for each future story in the series, so I can ‘see into the future’ and include small set-ups for future actions. I also have to make certain settings, characters and actions are consistent with respect to previous books. For example, today I found a place where a character with three brothers has only two in a past story. I also like repetition in series I read, so I have certain things I mention in every book: the scar on Odymn’s forehead, the moons, the tattoos on the Dock-winder’s necks, and so on. I keep a checklist of these in a writing compendium for the series.
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Revision 3. Conflict. Using my Table, I make sure each chapter includes a conflict. This could be an internal conflict, played out in the thoughts and actions of a single character, a conflict between two or more characters, or a conflict between character and setting (for example, a character wakes in a dangerous setting where breathing is difficult). I summarize each conflict in my Table.
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Revision 4. Change. I want each of my characters, major and minor, to have a want and a need, and show change during the book. For example, Odymn wants to return to her home on Earth, but to be happy, she needs to make a home for herself, even on an alien planet. By the end of the book, she will realize she will never return to Earth, but that home is where you find those you love.
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Revisions take time. The re-reading can make a writer bored with his/her own ideas. But every revision pays its own way in terms of improving the story for both the writer and reader.
After revisions, editing remains to be done. This includes conceptual, structural, substantive and line edits.
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Hoping you are making progress with your own writing,
and staying safe,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
nichepoetryandprose 