Melissa West

Yesterday I received an email from a friend of mine. She's kind of going through a tough time and so I asked her to type out exactly how she felt and send it to me. I will not, for privacy reasons, discuss the contents of the email but when I read it I literally felt her pain. There were few periods, less commas, and absolutely no structure to the email, but the writer in me found the intensity of the words absolutely beautiful. I think this would be a great exercise for any writer. When you feel lost or sad or overjoyed with happiness, write it down or type it out. Do not worry about structure, punctuation, or any of those silly things we writers live by. Instead, just write exactly what you feel and send it to yourself. I bet you will be amazed when you read it later. On a separate note a few funny details, and I am interested to know if you do this, too. I have a few words that my mind misspells continuously. A crit partner will point it out and I can feel my face flush over in ...

I read a thread today on the blueboards (Verla Kay) that was so horrifying I couldn't process it. See there is/was a book for sale on Amazon for pedophiles. I should start this post by saying that I do not watch the news. At all. I used to, but the constant focus on the negative aspects of our world quickly turned me off. Instead, I generally rummage through Yahoo or MSNBC (but only on occasion) and then go about my day. Getting back to the point, so yes, some sicko came up with a sicko book and Amazon decided to allow it to sell on their site. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/11/amazoncom-pulls-pedophile-advice-book-after-controversy-over-its-sale.html I will not delve into my opinion on this as I am a VERY opinionated person and this pisses me off to no end. But I will tell you this, prior to becoming a parent I was very much against the death penalty. I felt that God, and God alone, reserved the right to determine the life and death of human beings. Then I had my ...

NaNo update: words off (I'm bright red right now typing this) roughly 4,000 Goal: To catch up :) _______________________________ What makes something high concept? And is that the same as something that facilitates word of mouth success? I'm reading a few books right now (which, yes, likely hinders my Nano progress). One of them is THE SHACK, which is very much a religious based novel. I don't typically read Christian lit (excluding C.S. Lewis and arguably Tolkien and L-Engle), but noticed this book when perusing the aisles of Target the other day. It has a gripping cover, wouldn't you say? So I picked it up. First, let me say that this is not a new book. It was self-published in 2007. THE SHACK went on to become a USA Today Bestseller, a NYT #1 Bestseller, and has remained on the NYT Paperback bestseller list through 2010. So yeah, this book is for sure a breakout novel. It is a perfect example of the success of the "buzz." A book that makes people talk is so...

I read a fair amount about Nano and various writers' experiences prior to committing to write this month. A common thing mentioned is that the novel is in such poor shape that the writer has to do one of the following: A: rewrite the entire thing B: revise forever to get it into shape C: shelf the project. If you have participated in Nano, what was your experience? I am not comfortable with any one of the above outcomes because I LOVE the project I am working on. Consequently, I am editing as I go (more than I should) and thinking through plot (more than I should). I am quite behind in the word count but am thrilled with what I have so far. Sooo…I am setting my own *goal* for Nano and beyond. I plan to write and revise the complete novel by January 1st. Then send it to my crit partners that very day and will, of course, revise again based upon their comments. And guess what? This change in goal has helped me to become more productive. My plan is to double up on daily word counts th...

I've made it a personal mission of mine to read at least a few books a month. As a writer, it keeps the creative juices flowing. But this month I realized that each book that I read broke one or many of the rules. This is a common thing for sure as part of learning the rules is knowing when to break them. I read one book where the author used the verb "was" twenty times on one page. Yikes! I thought, at first, but then I realized that I didn't even notice it in the first pass. Want to know why? Because the story flowed so incredibly well that I didn't care. It was quite the epiphany for me and in turn I have created a few rules for myself. 1. Story trumps rules, always. If it works, it works. Throwing in a bunch of strong verbs can read as very unnatural. 2. Voice trumps rules, sometimes. You have to stay true to your character. If that word or phrase is voice specific, I say keep it. I find that over editing, over critting, and nerves in general can really detrac...