Hattie’s War is my first novel. I’m almost 70 years old. I have always wanted to be a writer but have never found a path to pursue that dream. Growing up, I wasn’t interested in books. I hardly read anything for pleasure. The thinking goes: readers make good writers. It makes sense, but that wasn’t me. I wasn’t a good writer. I was a terrible writer well into my college years. Pay attention in high school English? Never! Master the rules of grammar, syntax, and composition. Nope. I did just enough to get by. I don’t get that stuff. It baffles me even now. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a participle and a dangling participle.
I hadn’t planned to write this book. Honestly, I didn’t. It just happened. Maybe a better way of describing it is the book “unfolded.” That’s the way it seemed. Make no mistake, though. It was a lot of work. This was all new to me. I was learning to write middle-grade historical fiction as I went. My knowledge of story structure and the nuts and bolts of writing is limited. But I knew what I wanted to say, but not always how best to say it. Fortunately, I had the good sense to ask for help and seek input from professional editors.
In the next series of posts, I’ll walk you through the process of writing/revising the manuscript, sharing what I learned and how the story developed at each step.
Disclaimer: I am no expert. I’m sharing this to show how my learning process played out in creating the story. I’ll give specific examples from the manuscript before and after.
So, let’s get started. First…
Tools I Use
- Evernote– For research, Evernote is a very handy way of keeping track of materials you run across online, particularly if you add tags to what you save. The free version is all you need. It does a lot. Install the browser plugin, and you can save materials as you browse. If you are a Gmail user, Google Keep works in much the same way.
- Dropbox – I move around a lot and work from multiple computers. Dropbox is the only easy way to do that and not lose stuff. It also acts as a backup. Onedrive is a good alternative if you are using Word 365. The free version of Dropbox will work for most people. I pay for mine because I have too much stuff!
- Google Docs – I’ve been using GDocs since it was called Writely (before Google bought it). It comes in handy for sharing with your editors. I had to convert to Word for a couple of my pro editors.
- Adobe Photoshop-Lightroom-Fireworks to edit graphics and do the cover layout. I also used InDesign for one version of the cover for Ingramspark. I am moving away from Adobe products since everything is subscription-based, and my Version 6.0 apps are 32-bit (not supported by current operating systems). I’m now using Affinity Photo (Photoshop alternative) and Affinity Publisher (InDesign alternative). Both are reasonably priced and powerful, and NO subscription is required!
- Grammarly – I need all the help I can get with grammar and spelling. This tool is fantastic and very useful in spotting omitted words (the, a, as, etc.). Works as a browser plugin. There is a free version, so you can give it a try. I use the premium version.
- Hemingway Editor – a great way to get immediate feedback on readability, adverbs used, passive voice, and more. Free!
- Atticus – book layout app. It is a fairly new web-based program. Once I got the hang of it, it was very easy to use. Exports print-ready PDF and Epub format for digital books. You pay for it once, with all future updates included.
- Reedsy.com – my go-to resource for hiring freelance publishing professionals.
- Amazon KDP – book printer and distributor.
- IngramSpark – book printer and distributor.
Next ⇒ Draft #1: Show, don’t tell