Whoseywhatsit Thursday: Crit Style

Hello you lovely Oasis Seekers!  I am soooo excited to be writing my first Oasis blogpost, and it's a super cool one.

First, how cool is WHOSEYWHATSIT THURSDAY?!  Right?  That was A.E.'s creation, and we all love it immensely.  Actually, just typing it makes me smile. :)  Thursdays will be a sort of whatever we come up with, whatever's going on kinda day, and I think Whoseywhatsit fits that perfectly.

In fact, on two Thursdays a month, it means an opportunity for you!  I have the privilege of announcing out new critique feature.  On the first Thursday of the month (technically that was last Thursday, but we were still on hiatus), we will post a call for volunteers.  We'll let you know what we're critting that month, and if you're interested, you can leave your name and email in the comments.  We will randomly choose a volunteer and email that person for their submission (whatever we've chosen to crit for the month).  Then we will post our critiques the following Thursday (the second Thursday of the month).

Okay, so, this month we are going to look at your first 250 words.  So, if you are interested in having all six of the Oasis Ladies critique your first 250 words, please let us know in the comments and be sure to leave your email.  We will choose one person at noon on Sunday, and you will have 24 hours to email us your submission.  We will post our crits next week (Please note, if the critiques get too lengthy, we reserve the right to condense them for posting purposes).

In addition, a bloggerly friend of ours, Ebyss, is having a contest to win a first chapter/ten-page crit from all of us, so head over there and check it out.

So, lots of opportunities for crits from us!  Yay! Oh, and I posted a little About Me on my blog Tuesday, in case you want to get to know me a little better.  Please stop by and say hi!

Okay, sign up for the 250-word crit in the comments, and tell us about a great crit experience you've had. :)

Writer's Wednesday: Self-Editing 101

First off -- I'm so glad that our Oasis has returned.  We hope you enjoy the new line-up and our new contributor, Larissa Hardesty.

**Image snatched from Monbcn on DeviantArt**

For our first writer's Wednesday, I wanted to start with three basic self-editing tips that I see with some frequency.  I'm reading a self-published novel right now that has an absolutely AWESOME story line, but the editing issues are rampant.  I also see these mistakes cropping up in the First Pages group at #yalitchat.  Whether you're subbing to an agent or editor -- or going it on your own -- being able to self-edit is a critical skill.

Some common mistakes I'm seeing (and these are pretty basic, btw):

1.  Punctuation around dialog.  This is correct: "I like dogs," said Abbie.

     This is not correct: "I like dogs." said Abbie.

     This is correct: "I like dogs." Abbie grinned.

     This is not correct: "I like dogs," Abbie grinned.

     Can you see the difference between the two?  In the first example, what follows is a dialog tag.  The most common examples are said and asked.  If you're adding it before or after dialog, the correct pronunciation to use is a comma.  In the second example, what follows the dialog is a second sentence describing Abbie's movement.  This is classic showing.  Instead of telling your reader who is speaking, you're able to show by adding in a descriptive motion just before or after the dialog.  Since this is not a dialog tag (and it's not, because grinning is not a way in which to speak), the correct pronunciation is a period.

     

2.  Using Contractions in Dialog.  I actually stopped reading a self-pubbed novel with a good story line because all of the teen characters spoke in long, complete sentences.  The author never used contractions.  Now, I'm guilty of this myself in first drafts.  We've been taught for so long not to use contractions in our writing, it tends to come out that way even if we're thinking in contractions in our head.

Fix this when you're editing.

Read the dialog out loud.  Have beta readers who will actually give you honest feedback read it.  Do something.  Because I don't know any teens who would say something like: "I am going to college this fall. It is going to be great."  Instead, it'd be something more like: "I'm going to college this fall. It'll be great."  Same message, totally different delivery.

3.  Spelling.  Now, before my beta readers start throwing stones at me, I confess that this is one of my own fatal flaws. I'm a horrid speller and my word processing program, Pages, actually gave up on me and won't find the errors for me anymore.  (Yes, it's that bad.)  But a friend recently sent me a list of free spell checking sites that can scan your document for spelling errors.  So, I'm sharing.  Free is good.  Spelled correctly is better.

http://www.autocrit.com/wizardformpage.php
http://www.spellchecker.net/grammar/

www.autocrit.com

http://www.spellchecker.net/grammar/

http://www.danielnaber.de/languagetool

http://downloads.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=721347

http://www.grammar-monster.com/index.html <-- not a spell-checker, but answers all of the common grammar questions.  Really cool place!

publish button http://www.inetword.com/
http://shutterb.org/
http://www.editpad.org/
http://writeboard.com/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/writely-online-word-processor/


Though the sites listed above are free there is also software that you can purchase. Whitesmoke is great software that is compatible to Microsoft word 2007 and 2010. It is most certainly affordable:
http://www.whitesmoke.com/


So, those are my basic editing tips for the day.  Anyone want to add to the list of basics?  Or have feedback on the freebie spell-checkers?

We're back! And with a contest, too!

Wow!  Summer flew this year, didn’t it? I can’t believe that we’re over halfway through 2011 and heading on a crash course into 2012. 

As you’ve probably guessed we’ve re-launched and quite a few changes have taken place.  The most obvious being our new template.  We’re also instituting a new posting schedule. We’ll only be posting on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, but we’ve got some awesome things in the pipeline so we hope you’ll join us then.

And the best news of all is we’ve added a new Oasis Sister!  Please join me in welcoming the fabulous Larissa Hardesty.   

You can check out her personal blog here, but as a quick run down she’s a paranormal young adult writer and my CP.  She has written one book, LURE, about a book that has a whole town addicted to the point that they are quite literally reading themselves to death and the reluctant hero who has to embrace his native American ancestry in order to save them.  And is working on another called SUCCS—about a girl who believes in love, romance, and candle light dinners, but she finds out she’s a monster after almost killing her first date during their first kiss and happily-ever-afters don’t exist for this kind of monster.

And now onto our regularly scheduled post.  Our first TBR book after our hiatus is SILENCE by Becca Fitzpatrick. 

SILENCE is the third book in the HUSH, HUSH Saga and releases October 4, 2011 so LESS THAN A MONTH!  WooHoo!

Description

The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past...bridged two irreconcilable worlds...faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

For more information, check out Becca's website or goodreads page. Or, you can preorder the book on Amazon, Barnes& Noble, or Book Depository.

And to get you in the mood…and to welcome you back to our blog, we're giving away a Hardcover copy of CRESCENDO, which is book 2 in the series.

All you have to do to enter is make sure you’re a follower of the blog, and comment in the comment's section about what you did for your summer vacation.  You get extra points for blogging and tweeting about it.  +3 for blogging , +1 for tweeting (make sure to mention us @oasisforya in the tweet), for a total of five entries.  Make sure to add them up and put them in your comments section.  Winners will be drawn at random by random.org and announced next Tuesday. You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize before we draw another name/number from the comments.

Unfortunately this contest is only for US residents. Sorry. :(