fiction writing – Mary Raebel

Drive-Thru Edit: like, as, and such as

October 12, 2021October 6, 2021 maryraebel

Like is a word that pops up in conversation so often, even when it’s wrong, it sounds so right. Here we go anyway.

Lucy checked her manuscript for spelling mistakes ~~like~~ as she should.

(As is a conjunction used to combine two independent clauses.)

Lucy combed through the manuscript like a grammar granny.

(Like is a preposition that compares nouns or pronouns. Lucy is compared to a grammar granny. Note: There is no verb after grammar granny. If you did add a verb: Lucy combed through the manuscript as a grammar granny would do it.)

I like big furry animals such as bears, lions, and woolly mammoths.

(Use such as when giving examples.)

I would like to find more fruit such as kiwi.

(In this sentence, kiwi is an example of the fruit you’d like to find. Kiwi is on your shopping list!)

I would like to find more fruit like kiwi.

(In this sentence, you don’t want to find kiwi. You already have kiwi at home, but you like it so much, you want to find fruit similar to kiwi.)

Honestly? These rules may be important in formal writing, but when writing a novel? Your characters talk as they do. Or would they say like they do? They shouldn’t, but … ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.

Write on.

Drive-Thru Edit: fewer or less?

September 14, 2021October 6, 2021 maryraebel

Use the word fewer if you can count something:

She said her apartment was infested, but the exterminators counted fewer than seven ants in the entire complex.
I got fewer cookies than you did.
You are drinking fewer glasses of wine at dinner than you used to.

Use less if you cannot count something:

You are drinking less wine than usual.
It looks like there’s less snow on the mountain this year.

However, nothing is ever that simple. So …

Even though you can count up all the money, coins and bills, in my purse, the $5 total is considered a bulk amount in this sentence:

I have less than $5 in my purse.

Unlike:

I think I have fewer than five quarters in my purse for the parking meter. (I’m talking about each individual quarter.)

When indicating a span of time rather than the individual number of years or individual minutes, use less:

I graduated college in less than four years.
She completed the exam in less than 30 minutes.

Same with distance:

The office is less than five miles away.

And weight:

The lamb weighs less than 100 pounds.

Write on.

Drive-Thru Edit: I was or I were?

July 19, 2021July 7, 2021 maryraebel

Is it: If I were a rich man, Or if I was a rich man?

Well, as the song goes in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, Teyve, the poor milkman, sings:

“If I were a rich man, Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. All day long I’d biddy biddy bum. If I were a wealthy man.”

Why were and not was? Because Teyve is so not a rich man. If Teyve might have been a rich guy, and there was a possibility he was scamming us all, he would sing: If I was a rich man.

But, alas, he is not.

So,

If I were the Queen of France (which I am so not), I would have you all eat cake.

If I was to attend tomorrow’s meeting (which I may or may not), I would bring cake.

If I were a mermaid (Oh, I wish!), I’d sit on a rock and eat crab cakes.

If Estelle was at her house all day (probably or possibly), the neighbor would have seen her and brought over a cake. Let’s talk to that neighbor and see if Estelle was home.

Got it? Write on. Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. I need cake.

Tackling your writer’s mountain

July 5, 2021June 21, 2021 maryraebel

Confucius: The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

That writing mountain: finish the first draft, rewrite, query, just get a freaking idea for pity’s sake! Whatever your mountain is, find a small stone to carry away. A small one, any one, to make you feel you’re moving your mountain.

Many times, we see and hear the authors who have moved the mountain, and we forget that once upon a time, they were wanna-be-authors facing the mountain. What stones did they have to carry to accomplish their goal? The answer: All of them.

So, stop looking at the mountain, and focus on a stone: “I have no idea what to write, but I’m going to write anything that pops to mind for 30 minutes.” “Today, I’m going to research and find three agents open for queries in my genre.” “I’m going to work on that first draft, and it’s going to be a colossal heap of crap. But that means it’s a few stones closer to moving the mountain.”

Carrying stones can sometimes be slow and painful work—by yourself. “A little help, here?” Help is everywhere. Books, blogs, articles, workshops, mentors, social media groups, writing partners: They’re out there ready to help. Be brave. Pick up a stone and seek help.

And those accomplished authors? They’ll tell you there’s always another mountain after you finish conquering the first.

My Writer’s Dear Diary

June 21, 2021June 16, 2021 maryraebel

My husband gave me a beautiful journal for my birthday. I stared at its gilded cover and turned its pristine pages. “What could I possibly write that would be worthy of this elegant vessel?”

Then I knew. I would mark it up with messy, inky missives with scribbled-out words and splotches. I would paste pictures and memes only I might care about. I want its pages dog-eared. I want it to look used up.

It would be my sounding board, my ear to whisper in, my writer’s BFF.

My Dear Diary.

But I wouldn’t bother writing Dear Diary. It knows what it is.

What it is, is cathartic, therapeutic, motivating and inspiring—to me. It’s about my unique writing journey, filled with my cries and commentary, my personal tips and pep talks, customized for me.

Why every writer should have a writer’s Dear Diary:

Write with abandon. In my writer’s journal, sometimes my writing is careful and thoughtful, but mostly, it is not. And that is good practice. Too often, I find myself too cautious when I get a story idea and it takes forever—and sometimes never—to complete a first draft.
Be authentic in your writing. Writing for your eyes only allows you to develop that authenticity.
Conquer doubt, frustration and fears. Seeing them in writing helps you face them and deal with them. Let it out, and then give yourself a pep talk.
Celebrate your triumphs—and don’t be humble! For goodness’ sake, you deserve it! Brag about yourself in writing.
Discover your writing process. I write about where and when my ideas seem to pop up and develop. I have gone for more walks and cleaned the bathroom more often because, yes, these are when some of my best ideas come to me.
Be bad. Let yourself be snarky, envious, whiny. Frustrated by a string of no responses from agents? Envious because a writing friend sold her story? Let it all out. You’ll feel better. If you read it over the next day and feel guilty, you can always tear it out. But better yet, keep it. Those negative emotions are:
- Useful. Use that emotion in your writing. Maybe your anger produced some good lines a future character can use in a story.
- Motivating. Someone once said: Envy is that feeling that is pointing us toward our destiny. You know what you want. Now figure out how to achieve it.
- Revealing. Being real allows you to look in the mirror. Analyze yourself. Ask some honest questions. Why do you feel that way? What are you going to do about it?

There’s something so inviting about a blank sheet of paper. It’s just begging you to make your mark.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Writing in my writer’s journal is not one more thing on my writer’s to-do list. It isn’t a task, an obligation, or a discipline. It’s like that text you send to a good friend when you want to share some news or vent or just to talk. And who doesn’t need a friend like that?

Drive-Thru Edit: decades in numerals

June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 maryraebel

You could write: I grew up in the 1970s.

You could also write: I grew up in the ’70s.

Unfortunately, too often, you see decades written with misplaced apostrophes.

This is NOT correct: the 80’s

Even worse: the ’80’s

You might see it incorrectly spelled on signs, billboards, in blogs, and even the news ticker on cable news. They made an oops.

Write on.

Drive-Thru Edit: When h isn’t an h

May 18, 2021April 25, 2021 maryraebel

Words that start with h sometimes need an and sometimes need a

Both these words start with the letter h:

History
Honor

When you say history, you hear the h. So, you would write:

I am writing a history about the lumberjacks in my state.

The letter h is silent in the word honor. And that is why you write:

It is an honor to be here.

Typically, an is written before words that begin with a vowel or begin with a vowel sound.

But be careful of words that begin with u or o, such as: unicorn and one. Both words begin with a vowel, but the u sounds like you, and one sounds like it begins with w. So, you would write: