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| What’s Your Tiniest Next Step to Edit Your Novel? And Survey!
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November 13, 2020
Oakland, CA
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| | Thank you to everyone who has filled out the edit your novel survey.
If you haven’t already you’re welcome to fill it out here: http://bethb.net/eynsurvey
Ezra and I will use what you share with us to design our free webinar on editing your novel in December. You can sign up here to be notified when the webinar is scheduled:
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/edit-your-novel-webinar/
In the webinar, we plan to do a deep dive into one aspect of editing and give you all a hands-on insider view as we edit two people’s story openings. (150 words) We’ll pick two people at random. So if you’d like to be in the drawing, you'll be able to do that once we get the details locked in. Stay tuned!
This upcoming webinar is an introduction to our in-depth 3-month Edit Your Novel class and group mentorship that starts in January.
Strengths and Tiniest Steps Method
From the encouragement of a few friends I recently took the Clifton Strengthsfinders test.
The results didn’t really surprise me but they help me sharpen my focus on my strengths and give me some tools to enhance them. I really love the focus on strengths versus the focus on weaknesses. That totally goes with my psychology already :-) LOL.
My strongest strength is “Learner." And one of the ways I learn is by being a teacher.
I am very passionate about the learning process and the creative process and want to help others feel positive and hopeful that they can learn what they need to learn to be the kind of novelists they dream to be.
One of my very favorite ways to learn anything new is the Tiniest Steps Method. (I just made up that name, but this method is taught by many people.)
How to Use the Tiniest Next Steps Method
Break down the task, or skill you want to learn, or even a body of knowledge, to its tiniest component, so you can understand it, then practice it.
For example, say you want to learn how to bring more sensory details into your fiction.
What is the smallest nugget you need to know or understand to put the new awareness into practice?
Perhaps you need to collect words that help you increase your vocabulary and awareness of the senses. Perhaps you need to watch the world around you and drink in more sensory details.
For me it’s seeing where in my story I can add details.
Setting is a great place to start. I ask myself: What sensory details specifically?
The answer: Specific words, concrete nouns and verbs, words that evoke images, feelings, sensory responses in the body, including taste and smell... these are the kinds of words that bring readers into your story.
Instead of "the corridor" my character rushes through, I can write: “the corridor dotted with green-grey air plants along the wall.”
Instead of “the security chief’s office,” I can write: “the security chief’s tiny box office.”
Instead of “the lobby,” I can write: “the lobby perfumed by a gentle warm sea breeze.”
Instead of “the alarm blared,” I can write: “the alarm blared like screaming cats.”
Once I’ve added my sensory details, then I'll re-read again to make sure that my details don’t bog down the pace of my story — a fast-paced mystery.
That would be my next Tiniest Next Step.
What is your next Tiniest Step in editing your manuscript?
When you focus on only the next Tiniest Step and how you can take action there, then you can move forward bit by bit on your book every time you sit down to work.
Other steps you can take mentioned in this email:
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Have a happy and creative week!
All my best,
Beth
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| | Latest Posts on the Writer's Fun Zone Blog |
| | | | Our Newest Book for Writers!
"7 Essential Keys to Planning Your Novel: Story Preparation for Pansters"
We're selling this book for $0.99 on the ebook retailers, as a way to introduce new writers to our material.
♥
More Books from Writer's Fun Zone Publishing... Here
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| | You have been reading the Creativity Sparks Newsletter!
Now in its 14th year, this newsletter is a service of my coaching and consulting business, helping genre fiction writers write, market, and publish their books through courses, a 12-month group program, and books.
You may share this content intact and with no changes with this attribution:
c. 2006-2020 Beth Barany, Creativity Coach for Writers, www.BethBarany.com
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| ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany is creativity coach for writers, a teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker, who helps fiction writers experience clarity, so that they can write and polish their novels, and proudly publish them to the delight of their readers.
Owner of the Barany School of Fiction, an online training hub, Beth takes great interest in how humans learn, create, and grow, and includes all her students’ life experiences, including the ancestors, into the moment.
Want a course to help you prepare to write your novel? Discover the comprehensive Plan Your Novel course here, co-taught with award-winning, bestselling thriller author, Ezra Barany.
She's also an award-winning novelist and writes magical tales of romance, adventure, and mystery to empower women and girls to be the heroes in their own lives.
Uncover her Henrietta series here (YA Fantasy) and her Touchstone series here (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance). And her new Sci-fi Mystery here.
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
Photo Credit: by c. 2018 Ezra Barany
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