Sheila's Guests and Reviews

Perhaps I could use my time more efficiently by writing, but I've got a headache so instead I'll just think about writing for a while. I've read quite a few blog posts recently by authors telling how they create novels. It's comforting that there isn't just a single "right way" and the advice to "write the way that works for you" makes lots of sense. But what about writing the way that works for the novel? I'm only asking because as I head into editing all my current manuscripts again - my usual winter task - using Snowflake to organize myself, I'm wondering how I'd have used the software at the writing stage, and realizing that I approached the writing of each novel completely differently. Perhaps that just means I haven't worked out what works for me yet, but I felt like it was working at the time. My first novel - Chasing Shadows - is about a character who kept invading my every feeble attempt at writing something serious. I g...

I've spent a while playing with my Snowflake Pro software and my first Hemlock book. It's going pretty well. So, for those friends who've not met the Snowflake Guy ( Randy Ingermanson ), here's a few notes... 1. The software downloads and installs really easily - always a plus. 2. The welcome page has a neat diagram of a snowflake, and quick explanation of its relevance to writing a novel. Basically, the idea is that your novel has a beginning middle and end - three sides, like a triangle. If you add a triangle sticking out from the middle of each side, and another triangle sticking from the middle of each resulting side, etc... you end up with a snowflake. Meanwhile you're adding ideas to your one-sentence summary and turning it into a novel. 3. There's access to lecture notes and a spoken lecture at each stage of the program, to help you know what you're doing and why. And Randy's a really good speaker. 4. So, after doing the basics - title, genre, au...

No. It's not snowing. But I've finally caught up on the long weekend so I'm settling down to play with my new writers' software, Snowflake Pro. I'm analyzing my first Hemlock novel, finished this time last year, and planning to move on to the second one afterward. I'll be trying to import and export characters and locations between the stories. And since both novels include multiple points of view I'll be fascinated to see how the software lets me highlight them. Hopefully that will help me spot and fix any problems. Meanwhile I'm really looking forward to working with scenes and seeing how well they all fit together, hard to tell when I'm just reading what I've written. And then who knows, if I get really hooked I might even start writing book 3 with Snowflake Pro as my guide. Book 4 perhaps??? This should be fun--should also be close to miraculous if it gets me organized.

No; it's not snowing outside. In fact, at the moment it's not even raining though it was five minutes ago (this is Portland). But there are snowflakes growing in my computer and if my writing's somewhat incoherent it's probably due to the shock of finally starting to get organized. I went to a writing conference a few years back and one of the speakers was Randy Ingermanson. He was really good - a fun speaker, with lots of great ideas, very down to earth and practical (unless you count his ambition to achieve Total World Domination, but perhaps that's not impossible either.) One of his very practical suggestions was a talk about the Snowflake method of writing a novel. It appealed to me - reminded me of teaching Snowflake curves to elementary school-kids back in England. And it made great sense as a way to grow an idea into a novel, with all the details of character and plot filling themselves in along the way (along the edges) - the perfect solution to my meanderin...