How To Think Sideways: Career Survival School For Writers

Another one flew over the finish line!

by Texanne on July 28, 2010

I am so happy right now I can barely think. My rough draft is done. I haven’t finished a rough draft of something book length it about ten years, so this is a big thing for me!

A few questions though:
Are we supposed to hate our endings as soon as we read through them? Is this normal?
How long should I wait before taking HTRYN?
What should I do to take my mind off of my WIP?
What if my book sucks?
Yeah, I have more questions, but these are the ones I can’t stop thinking of. I think the reason I haven’t finished stuff before is for this very reason. I am terrified of writing crap.
Any advice you all can offer would be great.

Offer advice, and sing a verse of Atta Girl!

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If this is how Famous Author does it, shouldn’t I do it this way, too?

by Texanne on July 24, 2010

Writing is rewriting, quoth the sage.  How, exactly, do writing and revising share one writing brain?  Should all the writing be done before the revising begins?  One successful author revises as she writes, even going back to the beginning to change elements as new ideas come to her.  Some writers can work this way.  For others, this striving for daily perfection produces nothing more useful than a trunk full of novels that end on page 47.

Log in to read the discussion and offer your insights into process.

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No, it’s not too early (or too hot) to be thinking about NaNo 2010.

July 20, 2010

Many of the students at HTRYN are revising the novels we wrote during National Novel Writing Month 2009. NaNoWriMo happens every November.  This is July.  The cliffhanger for many of us is: Will the NaNovel from 2009 be revised in time for us to do this crazy thing all over again in November 2010? Log [...]

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Now where did I put that map of Atlantis?

July 17, 2010

You have read, or dug through, quite a few tomes of non-fiction covering all manner of topics.  That’s a lot of books–never mind the periodicals and special materials. If you own these research items, you can use sticky notes, high lighters, rubber bands, to mark and collect them. But what if your research materials belong [...]

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Who will hold your hand?

July 13, 2010

A Sideways student asked her classmates to name their ideal mentors–aside from Holly–who would offer tips on writing as well as on the business, political, and emotional aspects of the writing life. Surprising answers as well as related questions arose.  Log in to learn what others say and then share your own thoughts on the [...]

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Massive implosion rocks writer’s (fictional) world!

July 8, 2010

He wrote a big novel, but the overall message of the story came out all wrong.  HTRYN to the rescue! . . . after going through Holly’s process, I knew . . . I had too many characters and too many unrelated stories. I realized that when I split my original story into its two [...]

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Who tells the story best?

July 5, 2010

Some battles must be fought on a story-by-story basis.  Selecting the POV or combination of POVs that reveals the finest detail but also illuminates the most sweeping theme, for instance, is one of those battles. Here students discuss their approaches to this particular element of storytelling.  Notice how each student expresses his opinion in first [...]

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Not your average swimming hole

July 2, 2010

So the story came dressed as a fantasy.  Cool.  Sideways students know that stories are stories, and can’t be bound into just one genre or sub-genre. That fantasy could be a science fiction story.  That cozy could be a horror story. What? True.  Just log in to take a voyage on the Amazon River. Come [...]

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Don’t you love that Ah Ha! moment?

June 29, 2010

This Sideways student talks about how she’s getting the hang of The Sentence: This is my second time starting HTTS because I got busy with another project the first time and quit my old one. Now I’m starting over with three new ideas. I just finished the fourth draft of the Sentence for my third [...]

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How hard is it to type in a hammock?

June 24, 2010

The temperature and the humidity are both high.  Kids are home from school,  wrecking the house or fussing about being bored.  The grass needs to be mowed every other day, and the TV has nothing but re-runs and news, and re-runs of the news. Is this the perfect time to be writing that novel?  Yes, [...]

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