Aloha to Heather Ashby and First Drafts (part 2)

 

KINDLE PAPERWHITE GIVEAWAY: There’s still time - LIKE Heather Ashby’s Author Facebook page (link) by midnight October 21 for a chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite.

Welcome back for Part 2 of writing first drafts. If you remember from last week - link - I compared first drafts to scooping sand into a sandbox. I can make sand castles later, but first I need to gather the sand. Here are a few tips I’ve learned that help me keep my hands moving and the word count rising as I pile sand into my sandbox – and complete my first draft as quickly as possible.

I set in Bold Face Red any word or phrase where I’m tempted to check for spelling, if I already used it in the story, or if further research is required. I am forbidden to check it while writing. That could lead me down twisted, time-suck paths such as other chapters, the Internet, email, and Facebook. (See # 5)

I know to use the following words sparingly in a final copy, because they are frowned upon in the writing industry: just, very, that, really, felt, thought, up, down, adverbs and too many adjectives. (Instead of using adverbs and too many adjectives, use stronger verbs and nouns.) HOWEVER, in my first draft, I don’t worry about any of these words. I just write. I just let it flow. Later I will do a find/search for just, very, that, felt, thought, really, up, and down and decide if they are absolutely necessary or can be deleted. I check the adjectives and adverbs in subsequent drafts and see if I can’t find stronger nouns and verbs.

I don’t worry about my personal Overused Words. Mine are: eyes, breath, smile, laugh, oh, just, and a whole slew of cuss words. (I write about sailors.) I spend several days at the end doing a find/search for these words and change/switch them out, so that smile, laugh, grin, chuckle, a smile lit her face, humor glinted in his eyes, etc. are spaced out and used appropriately. (I keep a list to work from so I can cross them off as I use them.) I’d rather spend a day tweaking these words than lose my train of creative thought while drafting. The Millennium Phrase Book by Rebecca Andrews is an invaluable resource for word substitutes. She gives you over 3,500 samples to inspire you to write your own. (The lastest version is for all fiction genres, not just romance.) 

I do the same for Viscerals. I know exactly where I need to have a character experience a physical reaction to something (fear, joy, shock, surprise, lust, etc.) But if that reaction doesn’t flow from my fingertips, I type VISCERAL and keep going. When I’m done the draft, I do a find/search for the word, VISCERAL and replace it with the right words. Andrews book is also an excellent source for visceral reactions. The Emotion Thesaurus – A Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is another outstanding resource. 

I set my phone’s timer for a certain number of writing hours every day and start typing. If I take a break for anything besides writing (see #2), I have to hit PAUSE. I can check my email or do research—or eat lunch or go to work or take a nap—but I still have to write for a set number of hours that day. And the time doesn’t count until I hit RESUME. This keeps me focused on the prize—finishing the book. 

The bottom line? Understand that the first draft is going to be re-worked many times over after you finish it. Think of your WIP as an oil painting. An artist lays in a sketch of the composition first, like a rough draft. Once she has the total picture, she goes back and layers in colors and depth. She works it and re-works it until she has a masterpiece. Just like I lay in detailed descriptions and other ways of saying my overused words. But for a rough draft? As I always tell my writing students: “Rough drafts are like Outback. No rules; just write.”

Thanks for inviting me, Kim. I have a question for your readers: Please let me know what you learned in these two lessons or any writing tips you have for completing first drafts quickly. One lucky commenter will win a copy of FORGET ME NOT, Book #2 in Love in the Fleet.

Heather Ashby is a Navy veteran who taught school and raised a family while accompanying her Navy husband around the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. A retired teacher, she is now an Amber House Books author of the military romance series, “Love in the Fleet.” Her debut novel, Forgive and Forget, was voted “Best of 2013” Romantic Suspense by Suspense Magazine. Forget Me Not, was a Golden Heart® Finalist and 2014 Military Writers Society of America Winner for military romance. Never Forget released September 9, 2014. In gratitude for her Army son’s safe return from Afghanistan and Iraq, Heather donates half her royalties to Fisher House Foundation in support of wounded warriors and their families. Go to HeatherAshby.com for more information.

NEVER FORGET – Book #3 in “Love in the Fleet”

With 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel melted into her bow, what if there are more souls aboard the USS New York than the sailors and Marines stationed there? And what if those souls can help the troops defeat al-Qaeda this time?

When Gwyn Pritchard reports aboard the USS New York, she’s the only person who sees 9/11 spirits roaming the decks. As the sole survivor of an IED blast, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Adam Connor is wrestling with his own haunted past, but when he learns Gwyn is seeing ghosts aboard their ship, he becomes her confidant . . . and her lover.

Passions rise to fever pitch when the New York rushes to liberate hostages in North Africa. Can the spirits provide the right intelligence for the Marines to save the prisoners? Can Gwyn help the ghosts move on to the light? And can Adam and Gwyn find the love they’ve searched the world over for?

heatherashby.com
Twitter: @HAshbyAuthor (link)
Facebook: Heather Ashby Author (link)
Forgive and Forget link
Forget Me Not link
Never Forget link

Mahalo, Heather, for your advice to beginning writers!   To enter Heather's giveaway of FORGET ME NOT, Book 2 of the Love in the Fleet series:

1.  Leave a comment - Please let me know what you learned in these two lessons or any writing tips you have for completing first drafts quickly.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, October 18, 10 pm in Baltimore.  

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 19.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Aloha to Heather Ashby and First Drafts (Part 1)

The Navy's birthday celebrates its 239th birthday on Monday, October 13.  Let's get the party started with Navy veteran and Romance author Heather Ashby.   She shares advice for beginner writers ...

First Drafts Are Supposed To Be Sh**ty – Part 1

I constantly hear people say, “I want to write a book someday.” Actually 90% of people want to write a book. Someday. 10% of them will actually do it. The rest will just talk about it. What keeps them from doing it? Perfectionism. I’m a former teacher of Gifted Education and I swear that the smarter people are, the more they tend to be perfectionists. So let me help you get past that perfectionism thing and get you writing.

This is what inspired me to finally sit down and write my first book: A few years ago I heard a writer say, “I realized I didn’t want to die with my book still inside me.” Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I made a decision that I was going to figure it out and write that book. I discovered writing guru, Natalie Goldberg and the simple instructions she gives in WRITING DOWN THE BONES. When asked, “I want to be a writer; how do I begin?” Goldberg responded, “Go to the drugstore, get a spiral notebook and a pen. Start writing.” 

Start writing. It’s that simple. Give yourself permission to write the worst stuff possible. Just like “dance like no one is watching,” write like no one else is going to read it. Most people are so hung up on “Is it good enough?” or “But it’s not perfect,” that they don’t get past the first page. Goldberg mentions writing whatever comes to mind and thinking of it as a compost heap – from it something beautiful will take root and grow. I’ve come to think of first drafts as dumping sand into a sandbox. I can make sand castles later.

Here are Natalie Goldberg’s golden rules for first drafts. My comments in parentheses:

Get first thoughts down. They have energy. (If you stop to edit your raw emotions, you will lose the power.) 

Keep your hands moving. Don’t stop and re-read. You don’t need control here. (Just write. You can edit and revise later.) 

Don’t cross out/erase/edit. (You can do that later. It will slow your thinking process.) 

DO NOT worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar, fact checking. (Do it at the end.) 

Lose control. (My favorite! Let the endorphins kick in!) 

Don’t think. Don’t get logical. (Just write!) 

Go for the jugular. If something comes up and it’s “not nice,” pursue it. It probably has lots of energy. 

Get those first thoughts down! When you stop to edit/revise/research while you’re writing, you lose that energy. Stephen King in ON WRITING and Anne Lamott in BIRD BY BIRD, both refer to sh**ty first drafts. They say all first drafts are sh**ty. Don’t show them to anybody. Keep in mind that nobody’s first draft was ever published. Even the bestsellers will do numerous revisions and edits before their books go to print.

There are different kinds of writers. Which kind(s) are you?

Plotters - plot out a book from beginning to end, with every single twist and turn and secondary storyline. (You are probably a plotter if you read directions in advance of trying something. You don’t have a problem turning in an outline for a project or paper because you worked from that outline.)

Pantsers – write by the seat of their pants. Although they have a general idea about their story, they write from the gut and figure out the details as they go. (You are probably a Pantser if you only read directions after your attempt to do something has failed. You cannot write a detailed outline or synopsis until you are at least ½ way through a project.)

Linear Writers – Write from beginning to end.

Puzzlers – write scenes and chapters out of order as inspiration strikes. Then they puzzle all the pieces together later (and that’s okay J)

You may have already guessed that I’m a Pantser/Puzzler by the way I’ve told you to “just write.” But many Plotter/Linear Writers know that first drafts are supposed to be sh**ty too. Natalie Goldberg’s books are awesome inspirational books to get you started writing in general. Ann Lamott & Stephen King’s have more detailed information for writing books, but they are still mostly writing inspiration books.

Q: Heather, all this background/inspiration is good and I promise to read some of them. But I want to jump right in and start writing a novel now. How do I do that?

A: Pantsers: You know what you like to read. You have probably read hundreds of those books. Your stories will probably have a similar style and “voice.” (Your author’s “voice” is your personality on paper. It’s embedded in the writing.) You probably love your favorite authors’ voices. I recommend jumping in and writing like them. (Beginning painters copy the Masters as they learn to find their own style.) If you have a plot and characters in mind, jot them down and start writing. Think of it as sand. You can make sand castles later, but for now you need to just write so you can find out what happens in the story. (More on this next week.) When Pantsers try to read the books recommended below for Plotters, they often feel like they’re back in high school, where they were forced to write according to certain rules. These days I write first drafts like Outback: “No rules; Just Write.”

A: Plotters: Thank you for your patience. I know you’ve been nervous through this entire blog, waiting for concrete directions of how to write that book from beginning to end with everything it needs in between. Following are several highly recommended books in the industry. (As a Pantser, I could not read and understand these books until I had written a complete novel on my own. Then they made sense to me. But I know my left-brained husband – an engineer – would read them before beginning his own book.)

TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER – Dwight V. Swain (“Provides solid instruction for persons who want to write and sell fiction, not just talk about it.”) This is known as the bible for fiction writing. If you’re a Plotter and you want to write a novel, THIS is the one book you need to read in advance of writing.

G.M.C. GOAL, MOTIVATION & CONFLICT – Debra Dixon (Give dimension to your characters and direction to your plot.) Plotters will use this book to develop their characters before writing. (Pantsers know their characters on a gut level, including their wants and needs. I use the grids in this book after I’ve gotten to know my characters, and adjust accordingly.)

WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL – Donald Maass (“Take your fiction to the next level.”) I recommend reading Swain’s book first; this may for a little more advanced writer. It repeats quite a bit of Swain’s ideas, then takes to a higher level.

YOUR LIFE AS STORY – Tristine Rainer (This one is for writing your memoir as literature.) This books helps with memoir writing, by taking your factual life and giving it a story line. A memoir should have a purpose for the reader and should show growth in your protagonist – very likely YOU. This book helps you do that.

I would like to close with this advice about writing:

Discover your own unique style.
Do not get hung up on the absolute right way to write – because there is no such thing.
Most importantly, trust yourself! You are very likely a better writer than you think you are. Jump in and start writing.

Thanks for inviting me today, Kim. I hope your readers will come back next week for Part II, where I will present tips for writing sh**ty first drafts as quickly as possible for seasoned writers. And I hope all the newbies who joined us today will return next Friday, October 17 for the next lesson. 

Did you learn anything new today? I’d love to hear from you. I have a copy of FORGIVE AND FORGET, Book #1 in my “Love in the Fleet” series for a lucky commenter. (Stay tuned. Next week I’ll give away a copy of Book 2, FORGET ME NOT.) BTW, I have a Facebook contest going on right now. Stop by and LIKE my author page by midnight October 21 for a chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite at this link.

WRITE ON!

Mahalo, Heather, for sharing these writing tips!   Comments are open through Saturday, October 11, 10 pm in Baltimore. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 12. 

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Learn more about Heather and her books at heatherashby.com.

Aloha to Heather Ashby and NEVER FORGET - Special Tribute to 9/11

Today is September 11th – a sacred day on the United States’ calendar. My guest today is military romance author, Heather Ashby, who has written a 9/11-related story called Never Forget. Prepare for goose bumps as you read the following book blurb:

With 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel melted into her bow, what if there are more souls aboard the USS New York than the sailors and Marines stationed there?  And what if those souls can help the troops defeat al-Qaeda this time?

When Gwyn Pritchard reports aboard the USS New York, she’s the only person who sees 9/11 spirits roaming the decks. As the sole survivor of an IED blast, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Adam Connor is wrestling with his own issues, but when he learns Gwyn is seeing ghosts aboard their ship, he becomes her confidant...and her lover.

Passions rise to fever pitch when the New York rushes to liberate hostages in North Africa. Can the spirits provide the right intelligence for the Marines to save the prisoners? Can Gwyn help the ghosts move on to the light? And can Adam and Gwyn find the love they’ve searched the world over for?

Kim:  Wow, Heather, that gave me chills. Please tell us how you got the idea for Never Forget?

Heather:  This is a sacred day in our year, Kim, and I thank you for letting me share my book and photographs of USS New York with your readers today. Just so you know, I’ve worked on Never Forget for close to two years and I still get goose bumps. I’m a Navy veteran who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, so my series, “Love in the Fleet” centers around ships and squadrons out of Naval Station Mayport. When I heard Mayport would be receiving three amphibious assault ships, I researched them. And when I read about the sacred steel from the World Trade Center, I knew I had my story.

My initial reaction was: “I can’t do this. It would be wrong.” But then it came to me that if I didn’t write this story, somebody else would, and how could I guarantee they would do it as respectfully as I could. I’m a Navy vet, Navy wife, Marine Corps daughter, and mother of an Army infantryman who has fought in the War on Terror. I felt I was qualified, and figured if I could empower the spirits with some control over the ship, the crisis, and their destiny, it would allow them to move from victim to victor.

Kim:  Do you anticipate controversy? What about the families of 9/11 victims?

Heather:  The families were my very first consideration after getting the idea for the premise. That’s what I angst-ed over for several weeks before I put pen to paper. I am deeply spiritual however, and lots of prayer went into the decision to pursue this story. For starters, I meticulously checked victims’ names and bios against my characters and their personal stories. This was a good thing, because I had to change several names and back stories of characters, so they would not reflect victims. Without giving away too many spoilers, the reader will very likely witness the spirit characters performing helpful and positive acts that will lead them to their reward. A review at romancejunkies.com said, “Never Forget is a beautiful tribute to the victims of 9/11.”

As to critics, I would ask anyone who questions the book’s premise to read the story first and then I will gladly listen to their criticism – if they still have any. And controversy? The last time I looked, controversy sells books. And book sales here are a good thing, since I donate half my royalties to Fisher House Foundation in support of military families.

Kim:  Thus far your books have been about Navy personnel. How does this book fit in with the first two in the series and how easy was it to switch to a Marine hero? 

Heather:  The spirits aboard the New York represent just one story line. The main story is about a Naval officer exchange program between the U.S. and the U.K. If you’ve read the first two books in my series – about Philip and Sky – the third buddy in their merry band is Nick. Nick needs to get the heck out of Dodge after a breakup with his fiancée, so he applies for exchange duty with the British Navy. His love story with a Royal Navy sub-lieutenant encompasses one third of the book.

His replacement is British officer, Gwyn Pritchard who takes his job aboard the New York. She becomes a true ally with U.S. Marine Adam Connor, after he overhears her “ring up her mum to share that she’s bloody well seeing spirits walking the decks of her new ship.” Her mum is a noted psychic back in Wales, and Gwyn is mortified that she has apparently inherited her mother’s gift of a sixth sense. Sky, Philip, and Mikey; the heroes from Forgive and Forget and Forget Me Not, will deploy with the cast of characters in Never Forget.

As to writing about Marines, I had no idea I would be led to do this, but amphibs carry Marines and suddenly I was writing about a USMC gunnery sergeant. My late father was a Marine who had a tragic personal story. I lent his story to my hero, Adam Connor, and worked out some issues in my own life. I was blessed to find a USMC advisor/combat vet who helped me write the ship sequences, Adam’s PTSD issues, and the amphibious assault by the Marines. As we wrote, we both came to realize the power of this story – and the parts that will carry over to Book #4, Unforgettable. We somehow just knew there would be people who will seek healing after reading through Book #4. He said, “Heather, these books may be labeled romance and the majority of readers may be women. But I gotta’ tell you, the people who get the most guys to seek help for their PTSD are their wives. We gotta’ write these books.”

And the fact that several of the spirits are Marine Corps veterans will help to exemplify the saying: “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” J

Kim:  Tell me about that handsome cover model on the books in "Love in the Fleet." Who is that "Marine" on the cover of Never Forget? And do you find it weird when readers call him "hot?"

Heather:  The cover model for the entire series is my handsome son. Yup, the one who came home safe and whole from war, and inspired me to show my gratitude by writing the books and donating royalties. I do not find it weird that readers think he’s “hot.” (Especially on Forget Me Not. Check it out on heatherashby.com) I, too, think my son is good looking and he is obviously a good sport. Do you have any idea how hard it is for an Army infantryman to don Naval officers’ uniforms or the dress blues of a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant? LOL. I liken it to hot firefighters who pose for calendars in order to raise money for a good cause. My son knows that half of the money I earn from my books goes to support wounded warriors and their families.

Kim, thank you so much for inviting me on this sacred day to share Never Forget. I will be spending the rest of today curled up with a box of tissues watching 9/11 footage on TV. Doing this over the past two years has helped me develop my spirit characters so they could share stories that could promote healing. I’d be interested to hear from your readers what this day means to them or if there is something special they do to honor 9/11. Or perhaps they’d like to share their reactions of the morning of September 11, 2001. I have a copy of Never Forget for one lucky commenter. Oh, and before I leave, let me share the motto of USS New York:

“Strength Forged Through Sacrifice. Never Forget.”

Amazon link

Heather Ashby is a Navy veteran who taught school and raised a family while accompanying her Navy husband around the United States, Japan, and the Middle East. In gratitude for her Army son’s safe return from Afghanistan and Iraq, she now writes military romance novels, donating half her royalties to Fisher House Foundation which supports wounded warriors and their families. Never Forget is Book #3 in her series, “Love in the Fleet” published by NY Times best selling author, Teresa Medeiros at Amber House Books. Heather lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida with her husband and two rescue cats. 

heatherashby.com

Twitter: @HAshbyAuthor
Facebook: Heather Ashby Author

Mahalo, Heather, for honoring this day.  In honor of our country's freedom, I am sending a book box to a Navy surgeon deployed to Central Africa.  I ask you to leave a question or comment for her.   

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Heather shares pictures from the USS New York: