10 Signs That There Is A Dormant Writer In You

1. You have very rich imagination.
2. You see daydreaming as a productive activity.
3. You’re good at multi-tasking.
4. You have this since-time-immemorial love affair with books.
5. You’re good with words, you even ‘invented’ some.
6. You love using descriptive details when telling stories to your friends.
7. You correct spellings, tenses, grammar lapses on written articles and on other people’s speeches.
8. You enjoy researching and/or learning new things.
9. Your mind comes up with at least 3 plots when someone asked you, ‘if the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do today?’.
10. You look at Christmas parties, family reunions and get-together activities as opportunities to get new ideas from. 

10 Commandments For Desire Novelists

    I call these 'Love Scene Sins' ^{® :}

1. Thou shalt add many ‘tension’ scenes before the LS takes place.
2. Thou shalt not add a love scene just for the heck of it.
3. Thou shalt not use medical terms for body parts.
4. Thou shalt concentrate on the emotions and thoughts of the characters, and not on the mechanical descriptions of love making.
5. Thou shalt add more tender scenes like staring at each other's eyes, touching faces, kissing nose or temple.
6. Thou shalt use ‘tamer’ words in place of the intimate body parts.
7. Thou shalt use English narratives when describing parts of the scene that may sound offensive or vulgar in Tagalog.
8. Thou shalt not write a love scene concerning taboo topics like rape, incest, infidelity, voyeurism, sadism, exhibitionism, etc.
9. Thou shalt not write too many love scenes in one novel.
10. Thou shalt write only what you are comfortable to read. 

Lost in Translation

Spoiler Alert: By 2013, Bookware Publishing will start releasing Tagalized novels from different international publishers. In connection to this, I’d like to give a few pointers for those who are planning to give translating for MSV a try. :-)

• One of the main objectives of translation is for the reader to understand these novels better; to make them easier to read. So don’t use Tagalog terms that are too deep. Instead, use terms that Filipinos, in this day and age, are using. 
• Do not change the names of people, setting, events, currencies, units of measurement, and other things that reflect the life and culture of the characters in the novel.
• Do not add anything.
• Unless the publisher gave you a permission, do not crop or delete anything from the original novel. 
• Retain the tone of the novel. If the tone is serious, do not add words or phrases that will ‘sound’ otherwise.
• Translate it as it is, unless a sentence will be too mouthful to read or difficult to comprehend.
• Use simple sentences. Split sentences if needed. 
• Don’t translate idiomatic expressions literally. If there is a Tagalog counterpart for it, use that idiom instead. If there’s none, just give the meaning of the idiom in Tagalog. 
• If a certain word or phrase doesn’t have a direct equal in Filipino (or the equivalent term is outdated), retain its English form instead.
• English writers usually write longer and more detailed narratives. If you think it would be better (meaning, easier to read) to condense it, do so but with the permission of your editor.
• If you think your characters will sound odd saying the dialogue in its Tagalog form, then leave it alone.
• Don’t convert endearments if it would make the speaker (character) sound ‘baduy’, weak or lame.
• Do not split paragraphs; international publishers have their own rules regarding this.
• 'Tame' love scenes if you find it too graphic. Use the 'tamer' Tagalog equivalent words for body parts.  

Reminders: 

* Again, the goal is to make the manuscript EASIER to read. 

* Read your work to see if your Tagalog sentences make sense.
* DO NOT Google Translate. Please.
* The manuscript you’re working on belongs to someone else, and that someone has his/her own writing style. Respect it. Save your ideas for your own manuscript, and translate objectively. 

Goals A Novel Must Accomplish

Aside from  providing entertainment, kilig and that sense of hope in happy endings, there are other goals that a Romance novelist should aim for while writing his/her manuscript.

These are the following:

Make your readers fall in love with your hero. 

• Since romance novels are books made for women, heroes play the most crucial part in your novel. You have to make him really heroic and lovable. 
• Aside from giving him a 'tall, dark and handsome' description, add trivial things about him--things that will make your readers appreciate him even beyond his good looks.  

Make your heroine likable.

• Your heroine is your readers' mirror. Create her character in a way that readers can relate to her, or at least, sympathize with her. That way, emotions will be easier to pass on from the characters to the readers. They'll cry when she cries, laugh when she laughs, etc.
• Think of the women you admire and list the things you like about them. Inject some of these qualities to your heroine.
• Justify her actions. It's okay to add weaknesses but don't make your heroine wimpy, slutty, too emotional or anything shady/uncommendable/hateful.

Prove that your characters did fall in love with each other.  

• Stories may be written differently; some with shorter timelines, some with longer. But no matter how much (or not much) time they spent together, you have to prove that it was love that happened between them--not a fling, not just physical attraction, but one true love. They may be in denial at first, but later, your characters will have to admit that it was indeed love.
• You may use a third party to help your protagonist compare his/her feelings for the other character.
• Add more scenes between your hero and heroine---more kilig scenes, as much as possible. Or scenes that will show you characters' lovable sides.

Never assume that your readers will just accept a statement that your characters are in love without giving them enough proof. When it comes to love, writing-romance-novel-wise, it's not enough to SAY it, you have to PROVE it. It's more of SHOW than TELL.  

Happy writing! :) 

When Writing A Series...

1. Decide even before you begin the first book whether it will be a part of a series or not.
2. Treat each story as an individual book, focusing only on one pair of characters. 
3. Stir readers' curiosity about your other characters (the lead/s on the next story/ies) by making them 'look' and 'sound' interesting. Introduce them but don't give too much details, to the point that they outshine the leads.
4. Make sure that majority of the scenes in a novel will focus on the lead characters of that particular title. If a minor character will appear on more scenes than the major leads, it might confuse your readers.
5. Use the point of view of either the hero or the heroine.  
6. Each story must be different from the others. Different characters, different personalities, different goals, different conflicts; different gestures, manner of speaking and ways of thinking, too.
7. Do not overwhelm the readers with too much details.
8. Keep a series 'bible' to make sure there are no loopholes or inconsistencies, and timelines match. 
9. There should be a central theme to give your series its own sort of 'character' or identity. *
10. Give 'parallel' titles. *

*Note: For marketing and aesthetic purposes. :-)   

Tag It!

A 'dialogue tag' is the phrase or words you add after a dialogue. 

Example: "Hey!" Chris called.

In this sentence, 'Chris called' is the tag.

The main use of dialogue tags is to tell readers who is the speaker. If it's clear already who is speaking what, you don't need to add tags. It will only interrupt the flow of dialogues. 

I suggest you mind your tags later after finishing your manuscript, during the 4Rs (Read, Review, Revise and Rewrite) phase, not while writing the dialogues.

TIPS WHEN USING DIALOGUE TAGS.

1. Avoid redundancy. 

Example: "I'm shy," she said sheepishly. 

2. Avoid too many adverbs.  

Example: 
"I loved you then," he whispered sincerely.
"That is not true," she said indignantly.
"Nagsasabi ako ng totoo!" he raged violently. "Why can't you trust me?"
"Nooo!" she cried miserably. 

3. Make sure the tag matches the dialogue.

Example: 
"Get out!" he whispered.  (incorrect)

4.  English word + Tagalog word = not correct

Example: "No way!" yelled niya. 

Use either, 'she yelled' or 'tili niya'. 

5. Don't abuse 'sabi niya'.  

It's simple and straight to the point so this is actually the best tag, but don't overuse it. There are other--and more 'descriptive'--verbs you can opt for. 

Here is a list of verbs you can choose as replacement for 'sabi' or 'said':

amin
anas
angal
anunsyo
banggit
bulong
deklara
sagot
sang-ayon
tili
tudyo
udyok
untag
usal

acknowledged
argued
barked
bragged
confessed
demanded
hissed
mumbled
muttered
promised
replied
snarled
sobbed
threatened
wailed
whined

6. Make sure you're using the correct punctuation marks. 

Best Writing Tip:  READ.