Category: editing

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and now I wait…

This past weekend, I began (again) the search for an agent to represent me and the Blood Witch books. This is one of the things I have always been bad at…this advocating for myself, selling myself. It’s also why I suck at marketing and promotion.

But, if I want to take the next step as an author, this is how it must be done. I submitted to three agents that seemed like a good fit for me and the books…and now I wait.

In the meantime, I am continuing my edit of books 2 & 3 to bring them up to the same level as book 1.

I really believe in these books, in these characters and I can’t wait to share them with the world.

I’m also looking ahead to what comes next, because there’s always “next” and I have all these ideas in my head.

But first, it’s time to get back to the day job. And another cup of coffee.

It’s Wednesday, and I hope it’s wonderful for you.

Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash

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villains & vengeance & velocity

I’ve been battling migraines and all of their attendant baggage off and on for about two weeks. Only two days were really bad, but the up and down is exhausting.

Today the headache is only mild, but the nausea is yucky and my sinuses are cranky.

This is the start of my fourth week in the new day job, which I am enjoying. It’s a bigger company than my last few, but I get to learn new things, which makes me so very happy.

It is also October! I do love spooky season, which you know if you’ve been around here long (or not so long). I was supposed to be on vacation this week, but we postponed it out until we’re in a better place pandemic wise. My next opportunity for shenanigans is in just over two weeks, when I will be attending the Sirens Conference. I’m anxious, but excited.

I can not wait to see my Sirens family.

In case you didn’t know, I edit the anthology we publish to benefit the con, and this year’s anthology is available in both ebook and paperback. I also have a short story in the book. The profit from each book is donated to the Conference to help fund scholarships and/or defray the costs of putting the conference together. You can get your copy of Villains and Vengeance on Amazon.

We’re into that time of year when I can cuddle into fluffy hoodies and sweats, fuzzy socks and fingerless gloves in the morning, and strip down to shorts and a tank top by the evening…it’s also the time of year where time seems to excelerate.

Sure, this whole year has been something of a blur, but from now through January it always seems to enter warp speed.

And that’s pretty much my brain dump for you today, Readers. I hope the Monday treats you with kindness!

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doing the work

Some days, when I sit down to write, my mind goes blank. Other days my fingers can’t type fast enough to get everything in my head down on paper/screen. Some days words flow freely and they express things beautifully. Other days it’s more like slogging through mud.

This last week or so there has been a lot of mud slogging. Every word feels like work. Every sentence falls flat.

Yesterday, I hit a point where I wanted to just toss it all. All 205700 words of this trilogy because it is just rubbish (it isn’t) and no one would ever want to publish it (someone will).

To help counter that mind set, I went back to some of my favorite pieces in this story, some of those sentences that sing, those paragraphs that hit with just the perfect (*chef’s kiss*) combination of snark and sass in the midst of terrible circumstances.

And I remember how it feels to write like that. And I remember that all of the slogging at least means there are words on a page, and I can edit words on a page into polished nuggets of gold. And I remember how much I love this story and this character.

Never let someone tell you that writing isn’t work. Hard work.

Do the work. Get the words out. Making them pretty can come later.

Write.

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let’s build

I get asked fairly often how it is that I do what I do. For a long time I didn’t realize that not everyone has an endless loop of stories in their heads or characters that pull up a chair to have a chat. It seems inconceivable to me and I know that in those brief periods of writer’s block I felt like I was going crazy without them.

Each story starts as either a character who just springs to life in my mind, or as world building. Brain, my muse, loves world building. I have hundreds of partially defined worlds in my head at any given time. Sometimes it starts with a concept, say a universe where corporations govern, or gender-bent Victorian era. Sometimes it begins with a character, say an orphan raised in restrictive religious colony that shuns technology but is herself a technological wonder or a pickpocket who is quick on her feet.

Those are the easy things. The stuff that comes before the writing.

Of course, the challenge then is to populate those worlds with characters that will get the reader’s attention or to find a world for that character to live in.

When it comes to plot, I often start writing without one. The first words I get out tell us something about the character, usually by dropping in on them in the middle of some scenario or situation that may ultimately have nothing to do with the primary plot, but gives us a good idea who this person is.

Most of the time, I let the plot fill itself in as I write. Sure, this means that sometimes I have to do some extensive re-writes to make sure it all comes together, but I find that this is where the story comes to life for me. Sometimes I have specific plot points in mind that I want to hit along the way, but not always.

Of course, because Brain is fond of world building, I sometimes craft these meticulously detailed worlds that then sit idle until the right set of characters come around. I have a notebook full of these, and a folder on my One Drive as well.

Now, if I could just get Brain back to the work of telling this story! I have two weeks until I start my new job to try to finish the zero draft of the third Blood Witch book. My coffee is getting cold, Readers, so I’ll leave you here. Have a fabulous Sunday.

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let’s talk tense

As a new writer, one of the hang ups I had was tending to slip between past tense and present, particularly when I was writing action. There’s just something more intense about action in the present tense.

It was an accident that I would sometimes catch, and sometimes not. I still do one thorough reading pass on everything I write just to look for tense slip ups.

None of this to say that one is right and the other wrong, but like POV and you narrative voice, your tenses need to be consistent or you risk pushing your reader out of the story.

I don’t know that I’ve ever read a full novel that was written in present tense, but I’ve read, and written, a fair number of short stories that were. It seems to work particularly well with actions scenes, as I already said, and in particular with sex scenes.

And yeah, I’ve written a few of those in my day. Present tense seems to feel more immediate, more intimate for those moments. However, if your entire story is all past tense, and your action is present tense, well it just feels off. Some readers will recognize the problem, others will only realize that something is different.

Don’t let it keep you from getting your first draft down on paper/screen though. That’s what editing and editors are for.

Happy Friday, Readers! I accepted a job offer yesterday, so I have two weeks to try to finish up the last Blood Witch book before I’m back to the daily grind!

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from a certain point of view

As a reader, one of the things that can kick me out of a story or make me put a book down is what I call “point of view slips”. You know, you’re reading along in one point of view and there’s that random sentence/paragraph that is written in a completely different point of view.

Of course, as a writer, one of the easiest ways to avoid this kind of slip is to write in first person. If my narrative voice is I/me, I’m not going to accidentally tell you what another character is thinking/feeling without that character expressing it in some way.

As an editor and writing coach, this is one of the areas that I dig into. I tell my clients to ask a few questions to help them sort it out.

  1. Who is telling the story?
    • Even in third person narratives, the story is told/experienced through a character. Who is it? What do they know/see/hear/observe?
  2. How does that character know the information in that different point of view?
    • Is your character a mind reader?
  3. Is it necessary for your reader to know what that second character is thinking/feeling? Is it more important than what your primary character is thinking/feeling?

As an example, let’s take a look at how this might present in a fictional setting.

"Harold set his mug down on the table and surveyed the room as the chime on the door announced a new arrival. His impatience was building. He never did like waiting.  Nancy was always late, but he could see her now, shaking the rain off her umbrella in the doorway.  
A thousand apologies ran through her mind as she saw him waiting there, but she settled for lifting a hand in greeting while she finger combed her damp hair.
Harold nodded to the coffee he'd ordered for her, standing to receive her air kiss and shivering when her cold hand touched his arm."

That middle paragraph there takes the reader out of Harold’s point of view, and drops them into Nancy’s with no real pay off. There is nothing in that paragraph that is essential to the reader, or if that is the part that is important, then perhaps the author has chosen the wrong point of view character.

The question then is: Who is telling this story? Whose character has most to contribute to the reader’s understanding of the action? If it is truly Harold, the middle paragraph needs to change to reflect what Harold sees/hears/understands of Nancy’s arrival. If instead, the point of view with the most to offer is Nancy’s, then the rest of the piece needs to be reworked to show her understanding of her arrival and Harold’s impatience.

That isn’t to say that point of view changes are bad. We’ve all read books where the author chooses to change the POV character for various reasons. The trick is knowing when, where and how to do it.

What say you, Readers? Is this a sticking point for you too?

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sunshine and kindness

August is something of a transition month for me. When I lived in Upstate New York as a kid, it had this impending feeling of autumn, but with the heat and free spirit of summer. Corn of the cob and macaroni salads filled picnic tables, kids splashed about in Lake Ontario, and trees were just starting to show the kiss of color that autumn would bring.

Thoughts would turn to shopping for school clothes, the smell of leaves and fires, the anticipation for hay rides and haunted houses.

Of course, now that my life no longer rotates around the school calendar, August is the start of a string of birthdays/holidays that begins with my brother’s oldest child’s (who is no longer a child) birthday, mine, my mother’s, Halloween, Thanksgiving, my brother’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s and then my brother’s youngest child’s birthday (she is no longer a child either).

Add in there a trip to Austin early in August most years for a birthday celebration of another kind, plus various conferences and vacations, and most years August is the start of time accelerating to race through it all.

I leave for Austin on Thursday (vaccinated and masked), but until then, I’m trying to hold back on the gallop and keep this thing slowed down a bit while I can. I’m writing a lot, and editing the Sirens Benefit Anthology, and even working at designing a cover for it.

Right now, I’m savoring my Death Wish Coffee and contemplating thinky things. I plan on filming some poetry videos while I’m in Austin, so stay tuned for that to happen.

And now, Readers, I’m off into my Sunday. May yours be filled with sunshine and kindness.

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what matters is now

For a long time, in my teens and early twenties, I was sure that we would see the end of the world in my lifetime. Part of me clung to science fiction in what I only now recognize as hope that I was wrong, or some unacknowledged notion that even if Armageddon was to happen, some part of who we are, the best parts of who we are if I’m using Star Trek as an example, would live on outside the scenario I was taught.

Even after I learned my way out of that fear, and out of that particular flavor of Christianity, I maintained a love of sci-fi and in particular dystopian stories. The little spark of hope, that even if the worst of humanity prevailed, something good could remain was a driving factor in what and how I changed myself.

I’ve traveled a lot of roads spiritually and academically since then, and what I believe has changed and grown as I did. In some ways, the more I learn, the more I question, and I am less sure of a good deal many things than I have ever been.

One thing I do know, however, is that what I believe about where we come from, what comes after this life, whether or not there is a god or gods, does not define how I live my life. I no longer believe that my eternity rests on a belief, or on a specific god or on a specific ritual. Or, if it does, I am not interested in it at least.

What matters to me is this life. How I live now. How I treat others now. How I grow and learn now. Love and kindness are what motivate me, both for how I approach the world and how I approach myself.

We’re here, on this earth, now. This is what matters.

Those are my thinky thoughts for this Sunday morning, Readers! I hope you are well and that your life is filled with love and kindness. I’m off into the world of The Blood Witch with my Death Wish coffee in hand.

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editing services

I have openings in my editing schedule, and I’m looking to fill them!

Do you have an editing need? I provide business, technical, creative non-fiction and fiction editing with a quick turn around to help you get ready for publishing/submitting.

What types of things do I do?

  • Final Copy-Edit (typos & polishing)
  • Developmental Edit (Asking lots of questions, helping develop plot points,etc)
  • POV intensive
  • Technical Writing (software, hardware, manuals, online help, how to guides, etc)
  • Business Writing (website editing, blog posts, employee manuals, etc)

How can I help you? Email me at natalie@nataliejcase.com.

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word-working

Most weekends are set aside as time for writing/editing/other book related ings. Sometimes I dump several thousand words onto a page. Sometimes I strike a couple hundred off the page. Sometimes I tweak little things.

But there also days when I research odd things, fall down a rabbit hole of baby names sites, draw (badly) maps to help me keep directions straight. And then there are days where I’m looking for an agent, or I’m banging on promo work.

Very rarely, I get to use this time just to enjoy my own work, or lose myself into a new project, whether that’s a new book, a short story, a poem.

I do some of these things during the work week too, but I don’t have whole days to devote to them the way I do on the weekend. At least a half hour every day I am poking words in some way, shape or form outside of the wordworking I do in the day job.

This weekend I am diving deep into the world of The Blood Witch, part editing/part writing, as I attempt to patch up some plot holes and get some of the stuck bits moving again.

I love these characters, and this world. I look forward to being able to share them with you all one day.

Have a great Sunday, Readers! Stay safe. Stay cool. Maybe tuck into a lovely book.

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