Apr 24, 2010

T is for Timelines and Thanks


T is for Timelines. The online editing course I'm taking, How to Review Your Novel, has gotten me to use my scene cards (a previous exercise of recording each scene on a separate index card) and note down the day and time the scene takes place. I'm including the start time and finish time.

The object of this exercise is to catch yourself up on parts where the story does not flow cohesively, but also to think about time of day for your descriptions and actions. Things are easy to find in the daylight and night time is best for sneaky characters.

What did I gain from this exercise? Once all my cards were laid out in time order, I saw ways to shorten the overall timeframe of the story, down from three weeks to just over one week. This provides my narrative a faster moving pace.

Another part of the exercise was to decide exactly what time of year this is all happening, which makes you think about scenery (snow or falling leaves?) and the temperature (bikinis or sweaters?). The full rewrite of Dog Show Detective starts next week!

T is also for Thanks and I have to thank some lovely bloggers for awards! I try to get to everyone's blog every couple of days, the A-Z blog challenge is fun, but when I get back to blogging every couple of days, I'll be able to keep up with leaving comments :-). The awards:

From Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress
From Niki at Wool n Nuts
This award is from Angie Paxton at Answering the What if

It was easy to work out who I should pass them onto, because I owe great thanks to my beautiful followers who have made the effort to also follow my daughters (8 & 12yrs. old)  book review blog at Paper Dolls. The girls are absolutely thrilled when they get new followers and a comment is like christmas for them. I appreciate the supportive enthusiasm you've shown (and always feel free to post a link in the comments here, if you know of a young person's blog we should visit), so I want each person to receive all three awards, THANK YOU to:
And, because I've seen the girls working hard to finish books and spend hours on each review, I'm also passing the awards onto Milly and Tilly at Paper Dolls - keep up the good work girls!

14 comments:

  1. congrats on the awards! :) I keep telling myself to write scene cards, but I think I'm just too damn lazy! I keep forgetting about your daughter's blog. I shall visit today :)

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  2. First, congrats on the awards, but more important, what a great-sounding class you're taking. You've inspired me to look around for something like that. I'm happy I accidentally found you today. :)

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  3. Congratulations on your awards, well deserved. I like the idea of index cards to give you an overall timeframe. I can see that being very helpful in a lot of things.

    Thanks for some new links to check out too.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  4. Your daughters have a blog? That is so cool! I'm going there right now!

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  5. I love it when you share your class lessons with us! I am learning so much from you, Charmaine. Thanks you so much for the awards (I've been hoping to receive that little teddy bear!). :-)

    I really enjoy your daughters' reviews, especially because I have kids their age. They do a great job. :-)

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  6. Congrats on the awards, and thank you so much for passing them on to me. I love your daughters' review blog. I'll have to start commenting more!

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  7. Wow, three award?? Thanks, Charmaine, and congrats on getting them in the first place!

    It's great that your girls have their own blog and are reviewing books. :) And I love your blog. It's an awesome idea to have topics that start with each letter of the alphabet. I'm wondering what you'll talk about when you reach Z. LOL

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  8. Wow three Charmaine, you are too sweet! Congratulations!

    I wanted to say that I am glad you shared your daughters blogspot. They two amazing girls and I think it's awesome how you have allowed them to share their stories and reviews with the world! Their latest post was adorable and I can't wait to check out those books!

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  9. Congrats on the awards. Great choices for passing along too - I'll check out the girls' blog once my computer comes back! :)

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  10. I use scene cards but I never thought of incorporating the day/time onto them. That's an excellent idea.

    Congrats on your awards and have a great weekend!

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  11. awww thanks Wags, I love the awards yay :o) XX
    I think Milly and Tilly are doing a fantastic job :o))

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  12. Thank you for the award! I think your daughters' blog is such a great thing. I hope my daughter shares my love of literature so that I can do something similar with her when she's old enough.

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  13. Congrats to you on receiving the awards and I'm honor that you would bestow them on me. Thanks so much.

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  14. Thank you for the awards! Your daughters' blog is lovely. :)

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