Your Writing Tics

Hi all,

Just hit a new stage of the publishing process that I thought some of you might find interesting: line edits.

For those of you that don't know, line edits come after all the major editing work has been done. The story has been hammered into shape, the character arcs are working, all that big stuff. Lines edits are changes that live down on the word, sentence and paragraph level and they're where you start learning alot about your personal tics as a writer. And let me tell ya, it can be scary.

What have I learned? Well apparently...

• I don't know when to use toward instead of towards.
• I don't know the difference between farther and further. 
• I think it's okay to spell okay, OK.
• I love to compare things to ghosts, stars, birds and boulders. Seriously, I can't stop myself.
• I sometimes go a bit metaphor crazy and should just let my verb choice do the work for me.
• I have my characters use the words "a bit" way more than any real human uses them.
• I have the ability to use the same verb 5 times in one paragraph without realizing it.

Trust me, I could go on and on and I want to thank the kick ass editorial team of David Levithan and Cassandra Pelham for setting me straight on things. It's amazing, if occasionally mortifying, to have a couple pros go over your work with such a find toothed comb. I'll definitely be keeping these kinds of writing tics in mind from now on. 

How about you all? When you look back of your own writing do you notice any little tics? Words or phrases you use over and over? Common grammar misunderstandings?

Jeff Hirsch

The Long Walk Home

Coming from Scholastic, Fall 2011

Find me at jeff-hirsch.com and @jeff_hirsch

Let's Par-Tay!

I saw a tweet about a dinner party blog post from a friend of mine. I haven’t read the entry yet, but the first thing I thought was it must be about who, from the pages of a book or the scenes on a screen, you would invite to a dinner party. Then, I thought about some pairings at a fictional dystopian/sci fi dinner party and wondered what the conversation might be between certain characters. Here are a few I imagined:

Katniss (The Hunger Games) and Guy Montag (Fahrenheit 451)

O’Brien (1984) and Violet (Feed)

Jenna Fox (The Adoration of Jenna Fox) and Thomas (The Maze Runner)

Petta (The Hunger Games) and Mitsuki (Battle Royale)

And, people I would just like to have there:

Gale (The Hunger Games)

Han Solo (Star Wars)

Alex (A Clockwork Orange)

How about your dinner party? Who would you invite?

The Westerfeld Report

Okay, so I don't think it's a secret that I adore like Scott Westerfeld. He only wrote the dystopian novel that inspired me to write one. And the best YA contemporary I've read, well, probably ever.

So when I found out he was coming to my neck of the woods, I jumped on that airship pretty darn fast. He spoke for an hour, and said some really cool stuff about writing and just life.

At the end, he took questions. One teen asked him why his books (and Stephenie Meyers'--ha!) were so popular while some don't get that attention.

I looked at my writing pal, and could tell that we were both thinking the same thing: Riddle me that, Westerfeld.

Because it's such a great question. Why do some books get the buzz and others don't?

Westerfeld's answer (this isn't word for word): If a book can get people talking about it, then it will be more successful. Because when we like a book, we tell all our friends to read it so we can then talk about it.

I thought that was a great answer. There's nothing I love more than to talk about books. So I ask you: Why do some books get more buzz than others? And what books have you read lately that are worth talking about?

How to be (or Write) a Villain

We’ve all seen it. The villain has the good guy or gal in his clutches, and then he pauses to gloat or spill his plans for world domination, giving the hero just enough time to get free and ruin his plans.  Curses, foiled again!

A few years ago, a sci fi fan^[1] took the top 100 mistakes villains inevitably make in fiction and flipped them on their head. The Evil Overlord List was the result.

So, if you decide to take over the world—or write a villain—here are a few pearls of wisdom from the Evil Overlord:

• Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
• The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
• After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.
• I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
• I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.
• I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum -- a small hotel well outside my borders will work just as well.
• The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other form of last request.

You get the idea. Can you think of any more cliches? What about dumb things the hero or heroine does  that inevitably land him or her in the villains clutches?


[1] The Evil Overlord List is Copyright 1996-1997 by Peter Anspach.

A Series of Questions about a Series of Books

Hi all,

This'll be a pretty simple post. Mostly I could just use a bit of the collected wisdom of the blogosphere.

My first book is a one shot deal, but I'm considering following it up with something that could turn into a series, but I've never done this before and the idea is a bit daunting.

So this is where you guys come in.

Have people out there written a series before or are you writing one now? Do you particularly like reading them? If yes to either of these, what draws you to a series? What do you think are the hallmarks of good series? The hallmarks of a bad series? What do you see as the particular challenges of a series? Are there common pitfalls I should try my best to avoid? Can you talk about some of your favorite series and why you think they work so well as a series?

See, I've got nothing but questions. I'd love to hear what you all think!

(Oh, and if you have no particular opinions on this issue, just tell us how your Halloween was. Mine was great. I made this complicated but delicious pie and watched Rosemary's Baby with the lovely wife. It seriously freaked her out. Good times!)

Mimic Octopus - Wow!

This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Can you imagine what must be going on in this creature's head? Is it aware what it's doing? I think it absolutely must.

Isn't this incredible?

Building the World All Over Again

So, many of you know I'm currently working on Book 2 of Across the Universe. And one thing that I'm finding is that I have to work at reminding readers of the world while not inundating them with things they already know.

Personally, the video "Replay" by Iyaz reminds me of what it's like to edit.


iyaz - replay [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Uploaded by SN1PSH0T. - See the latest featured music videos.

Readers of my blog will no doubt remember some of my Music Monday features, where I talk about how a song or music video teaches me something about writing. I'm a nerd that way. Please bear with me.

When I first heard Iyaz's "Replay" on the radio, the thing that struck me was the line "girl, I could write you a symphony," which is underscored by actual symphonic music (it starts at around 2:17 if you'd like to hear what I'm talking about).

Here's the thing--this is what it means to "show not tell" (or in this case, "hear not tell"). One could argue that the whole point of the chorus is to "replay" and literally "show" the replay, though back-tracked snatches of the song. (For example, in the line "Like my iPod's stuck on replay--replay" the "replay" is literally replayed.)

OK let's bring this away from dancing bikini-clad girls and back to writing. I've discovered that the key to re-describing the setting and characters in Book 2 has been to show, and not tell. Instead of saying (again) that Godspeed, the setting of my books, is a spaceship, I show a character running her hand across the wall. Instead of talking about a fight between two of the characters that happened in Book 1, I show them being awkward and still unforgiving in Book 2.

I'm trying to let you hear the symphony.

This happens in the best sequels. Remember Gale and Katniss's awkward relationship in Catching Fire? Harry seeing the magic in Hogwarts in subsequent books? Ender's guilt after the Game?

Which sequels have you read that "showed" so well you could hear the symphony?