The Three Ps of Writing

Practice: 
Like any sport, profession, hobby, pastime, or pretty much anything in the universe: Practice makes perfect, or as close to it as you can get. How much practice? Think of your ability to write as if it were a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger it is. Don't wait around for your muse to get their head out of the clouds. Write every day, at least a little bit, and it will become easier and easier to get the words flowing. It doesn't have to be on your current work in progress. It can be completely random, just get those juices moving!

Patience:
If you have ever submitted to an agent or editor, you know exactly what I mean. And no, hitting refresh on your email a thousand times in one hour isn't an exercise in patience. Finish your book. Have patience while you let it sit and perculate. Come back to it in a week, a month maybe, then revise it. Have patience when you are researching agents and editors. It can be tempting to send out those queries right away. Resist! You need to pick those you are going to sub to carefully. This takes patience. Once you find them and submit to them, again you must exercise that patience and wait at least thirty days for them to respond. Check their website to see how long they typically take to respond, don't bug them until that date. If they don't list a timeframe, thirty days is safe to assume.

Persistence:
No luck placing your first novel with an agent or editor? Welcome to the norm. It is tough to place your first book because you are going to grow and improve with each novel you write. Which means; while that first book is one submission, you should be writing the next one! Don't place all your eggs in one basket. Write th
e next, and the next, and the next. Want your book to be a series? Get that second one going! Not getting any bites? Keep improving your writing skills. Go to workshops, retreats, conferences if you can. If you can't, get books on the craft of writing that are relevant to your genre(s).

Time and Place for Backstory

There is a time and place for backstory and the beginning of your novel is not it. Beginning with backstory is a good way to get automatically rejected by many agents and editors. However, backstory is not the same as a prologue. Backstory is talking about something that has already happened where a prologue is something that is happening~even if it's in the past. The difference is action. Most agents and editors want the story to start right away. Readers want a sense that something is happening, there is something at stake, and there is a way to save what is at stake.

The inciting incident should be as close to the beginning of your novel as you can get it. This doesn't mean it has to be in the first chapter so long as what comes first is pertinent to the story and is exciting, suspenseful, or interesting enough to start the novel with. Not sure what the inciting incident is? It is the event which occurs and sets the entire novel in motion. Example: In Harry Potter it was the arrival of the letter from Hogwarts.

Backstory can be sprinkled in later, after the reader is invested in the character and is hooked enough to keep turning pages. Only then will they tolerate or enjoy the lull of backstory. Five to ten pages in before doing it is a good rule to follow. Wait as long as you can and use that hidden info to build suspense, tension, and curiosity in the reader. And when you do bring it in, don't do paragraph upon paragraph of info dump for no reason. Have the backstory triggered by something currently going on so it flows naturally. Think of it like flavoring your food. If you overdo it, no one will eat it. If it is sprinkled in at the right time and just the right amount, it will enrich the story~not detract from it.

Show Don't Tell

Today I'm going to give you a huge tip on how to get through agents and editors slush piles. This is a pet peeve of most in the industry as it is a sign of lazy writing.

One of the biggest pitfalls of writing, and one of the top 10 reasons I reject a manuscript, is telling instead of showing. Telling is passive writing. Or to put it another way; it is the telling of something that has already happened and is in the past. Not to be confused with past tense, that's entirely different. Past tense, present tense, those are styles you choose to write in (I'm actually a huge fan of past tense. I prefer it). Telling is more akin to information dump where you go into backstory of some kind or another that the character is recalling (not to be confused with a flashback. That doesn't mean you can do it as a flashback and get away with it with me. I dislike flashbacks immensely).

Showing is active writing of something that is currently happening. There is a time and a place to tell instead of show, but it needs to be done sparingly and appropriately. In the beginning of your novel is not the place to do it. A good rule of thumb is to do your best to not tell, info dump, or give back story for at least the first ten pages.

Until the reader cares about your characters and is vested in them you don't want to go into backstory. Your first chapter needs to hook the reader, entice and interest them with questions and mystery. Only then will they keep reading and tolerate things like backstory. When you do add it in later remember not to do an information dump where you just 'tell' the reader the backstory. Try to 'show' it and work it in naturally where it fits with things that prompt it.

Understanding Passive Voice

Passive voice is considered one of the great evils of writing. However, there are times when it is appropriate, and even recommended, to use. Knowing when to use it is the mark of an experienced writer. First you have to understand what passive voice is. Think of it this way:

Passive voice: the subject (noun often) is receiving an action.
Active voice: the subject (noun, often) is performing an action.

A few examples:

Passive: The belles of the ball were gliding across the floor.
Active: The belles of the ball glided across the floor.

Passive: It is the intention of the belles to attract a husband.
Active: The belles intend to attract husbands.

The culprits are often the words: is, was, were, are. Seek these out and come up with ways to rework your sentence to make it more active. Think of the action happening now, rather than telling about the fact that it did happen. The time to use passive voice is when you are telling about something that already happened. But be careful, most action needs to be happening currently, even when you're telling in past tense third person. That is the tricky part. 

Don't Wait On Your Muse

Many writers wait for the inspiration to hit them. Many feel it is when they write their best work. However, if you have the job from hell, your boss stresses you out, maybe your kids run you ragged all day long, you have a house to clean, errands to run and people to feed, then your muse may never want to awaken. At the end of the day you have no energy left at all, let alone feel up to inspiring thoughts. In other words, your stress has strangled your muse into submission.

So what do you do in a world that refuses to pause for you or give your muse a moment to come up for air? You fight for it. Treat your muse as one of those important people in your life that you must take care of, because after all they are important, they're you. Play music you love, watch one of your favorite shows when you get a chance, read a few pages of a book. You deserve a few moments of the day for yourself, even if that's all it is.

Carry a notepad or notebook everywhere you go so that if you get inspiration for even one sentence, you can write it down. The more you keep your book on your mind, the more inspired you'll get. When you go on break or when the kids are down for a nap, pull that notebook out. Try it, you might find your muse singing to you a lot more often! Think of your muse like a muscle. If you don't make it work and use it consistently, it will wither away.