Where to Start

I’ve been trudging along, barely editing my book for the past few months.  Life, as always, seems to be getting in the way a lot, and when I finally have a chance to sit down and work on my book, it feels more like a job than it ever has before.  I know that’s what writing is, work, but it is also supposed to be work I enjoy.  Otherwise, why would I do it?  So, I have taken a bit of a break from my novel to play around with some other ideas and to read a little.

Reading is also usually a really pleasant way to pass my time, except that I’ve started reading some books written by an absolutely exceptional author who makes me feel motivated to write more.  The way she creates her world and her people is on a level that is awe-inspiring.  It makes me wonder how she created it all.  Did she spend months and months just mapping out her world and how it worked before ever putting pen to paper?  Or did she start writing a story and the world just came together for her?

The new idea I’ve been working on, that’s supposed to be my fun break from editing, now makes me pause.  I wonder if I should be mapping this world out carefully before writing, or just enjoying writing.

It’s all just a complicated mess where all roads lead right back to me not writing.  But, at least, in talking to my fellow writers, I’m not alone in my struggles to stay focused on my work.

Time for a change…

Notice anything different this week?

Uh-huh, that’s right. I changed the day my posts go up on my blog.  I like Wednesdays so I moved my Saturday blog dates to Wednesdays.  Everyone needs something at that mid-point of the week, just a little sometin’ sometin’ to get them thru…

Don’t worry, if you miss it, it’ll come back around like that damn one armed Free Range Zombie of Eeries that I keep chasing out of my yard so Hellhound won’t gnaw on it’s femur.  Free Range? Really? The only Free Range those shambling corpses do is through my yard, taunting my poor Hellhound with the tease of a free bone.

No worries, I’ll send my Muse and her new sidekick over to “politely” let Eerie know his pets need to limit their range!

Onward…

We’ve had some great guest posts and I’m hoping to fill up the rest of the year with even more, so stay tuned.  On April 24th we’ll be hosting the marvelous Kelly Meding, the creative genius behind the Urban Fantasy titles of the Dreg Series and the Meta War series. Mark your calendars, you don’t want to miss out!

I’ll catch you up on what I’ve been doing.  Shadow’s Moon is still out making the rounds.  It’s managed to make a positive impression with a few notables, but no invites yet.  I’ll keep you posted.

The Knight and I decided to take an adult time out in the City of Sin.  It was fun, oh yes it was, but like they say, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” so long as you manage to avoid Twitter and Facebook. The Garden Gnomes and the Prankster Duo managed to hold the shack down, so we were good.

Writing wise, I’m working on a new book complete with new character.  Interestingly enough, this is the fourth title I’ve undertaken, but I can honestly say that practice helps. Every time you sit down and put your pen to paper, your creative skills get just a smidge better.  Every blog you read, every writing class you take, every book you read, it all increased your mastery of writing.  Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to revise your old projects instead of using your new and improved skills on a new one.

I started this particular title before Shadow’s Moon, but set it aside because Xander and Warrick were a lot more pushy and demanding their time. So being the supportive creator I am, I gave them their book. Now, however, this character is making sure she has my complete, undivided attention. Re working the first draft, I’ve realized that everything I’ve learned from other authors is coming in handy. I know the whole basic plot of this book, start, middle, end, a huge accomplishment for a pantser.  Plus, my character motivation is clearer, earlier on.  Instead of stumbling around and trying to make sense, it’s clicking fairly well.

Of course, I may have just jinxed it ,but still.

So I wanted to ask you all…what technique/skill have you recently learned that is helping in your current WIP?

–Wicked

Remembering the little details…

Yes, I realize I missed my Thursday post with my fellow dwarves. Nope, I have absolutely no excuse. Unless you count the fact that sleep decided it wasn’t being appreciated enough and left me in a snit about two weeks ago.  Damn drama queen.  Now I figure out how to lure it back.  In the meantime, I took over Saturday’s spot on the 7ED site to play catch up.  On my blog, no one will notice…

I promised we’d get back to some basics on writing, so now that Shadow’s Moon is out propositioning some very nice people at the pub houses, let me clue you in on something I knew, but had slammed home recently.  When writing a series, it’s very important to be able to remember the little details.  You know, things like hair color, eye color, height, gender, where someone lives, what their favorite food is, what they drive, who their parents are…the little things.  It’s all those little things that make or break your world over numerous books.

Readers are some of the most intelligent, eagled eyed people out there. If you tell them your character is blonde, blue-eyed, lives in the city, drives a sports car and prefers chocolate over caviar (like who doesn’t?), and then somewhere down the line she’s puttering around in the suburbs, eating caviar and driving a Jeep, there will be issues. I promise you.  So how does a writer keep track of all these little things? Especially as they are constantly refining their worlds and characters?

The answer is…a series bible.

Now, when I started Shadow’s Edge, I had the beginnings of a bible for the series. Of course it was scattered around my office and filing cabinets masquerading as scribbles on notebook paper, more scribbles on post-its (a vital component of any office), even more scribbles on the back of restaurant receipts with coffee stains.  By the time I finished the first book, I managed to gather my loose little notes into one central area. Then I was off to write Shadow’s Soul. When I spent more time trying to verify something about a character of one of the Kyn Houses than actually writing the scene, it was time to put it all together.  But, first I had to finish the book.

So Shadow’s Soul done and out into the world, Shadow’s Moon was well underway and my notes were still an unruly pile in need of some serious discipline. It may have taken a few discussions (read-heated debates) among the Evil 7, but it was glaringly obvious if I wanted to win some of my points, I better have proof that I really did have that character doing that before.  This meant the last two weeks, on top of query letters and synopsis creation (which we’ll try to address next week), I finally buckled down to get all those pesky details in order.

What exactly goes into a Series Bible, you may ask…my answer, after many hours trolling the internet and talking to other writers: Whatever you feel is vital to your world. 

With that lovely open to interpretation answer, I will share what is in mine and you can discard or copy what ever tickles your fancy.

CHARACTER PROFILES:  this includes all the vital stats on your characters–physical, emotional, background, who they’re linked to and how, images (there’s fun to be had doing an internet search entitled: hot brunette males), where they live, what they drive, how the dress, personal ticks/habits, job position, etc. 

LIST OF MINOR CHARACTERS:  I went book by book and anyone I mentioned by name went on this list, along with the notation DEAD if they didn’t survive.  You never know when one of these names comes back and takes over.

WORLD HISTORY:  this includes world rules on how your world works, the history of its creation and they way your current world interacts/ed with others.  In mine, I have a breakdown for each of the four houses of the Kyn, the governing structure, magic rules for each race, some history behind each of them, strengths/weaknesses of each race (physical/emotional), territory division for the Shifters and who runs which packs, glossary.  This is a huge section and you can break it down further if it helps.

PLACES/LOCATIONS:  a list of all the bars, restaurants, businesses, homes that are in each book and how they’re linked to the characters.  Someday I’ll have maps too!

BLURBS: from each book.  Here’s a great way to get a jump on your query, write your own blurb for your book.

SYNOPSIS: from each book, anywhere from 1-5 pages.  You’ll need these.

SERIES ARC:  This is important as it helps you see where each title will fall under your major plot, and how each title will help move it along.

NOVEL PLOTS:  self-explanatory–plots for each book, at least how they start out. They never end up the same.

SHORTS:  this is a list of ideas I will someday brave in my attempts to master the short story.

There is a massive amounts of opinions on what should be in your series bible, plus quite a few free worksheets if you want them, but I found this is what works best for me.  It allows me to keep it all straight and not lose sight of my overall story.

So for those who’ve stuck this out to the end–add your suggestions to what should be in a series bible!

-Wicked

NANO, Just Writing

The plan for NANO (National Novel Writing Month) is to just write, not edit, not outline, just write.  But how do you just write?  What does that even mean?

When I begin writing, I naturally crave some kind of structure, some kind of guidelines to follow.  Often my characters take me off my decided path, but then, a new path is created based upon what my characters want.  Does that make any sense at all?

BUT, this month I am just writing.  I am creating words on a page, without my usual obsessive compulsive behavior.  I am not going to re-read my work (at least I’ll try not to).  This plan, however, really worries me.  I think I might end up creating more work for myself in the end by doing things in such an unorganized way.  But at the same time, I am really looking forward to trying a different writing process.  Hey, I may even realize I like this way of writing better!

What do you think?  Does writing without a plan simply cause more problems in the long run?

NANO- National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month!  We Evil Dwarves are proud to say we are participating this year (and November is ALMOST here).  I have prepared my blogs ahead of time with a plan, so I can spend November working on the second novel in my new series.  But, I do have some reservations.

First of all, you have to understand my writing process to understand why something like NANO could get me a little stressed, so here it is:

1. Wake from an intriguing dream.  Write it down.  Mull it over.  Write it down again, with some of the weird that doesn’t make sense when you wake up stuff, gone.
2. Start writing.  Understand my character and my world.  Adjust how the character changes what I originally thought.
3. Stop writing.  Create a general outline for the remainder of the book.
4. Start writing again.  Make it to about the halfway point in the book.
5. Stop writing again.  Go back and edit/revise the first portion of the book.
6. Rewrite the outline with more details, adjusting for the changes that have occurred during the writing process.
7. Start writing again.  Write until the end of the book.
8. Finally, the hardcore revising begins.

Okay, so I never claimed my writing process was neat and organized.  What is your process like?  Also, this is why I fear NANO so much.  I am expected to go against my obsessive writing behaviors and just write for an entire month.

I don’t know how successful I will be in this process.  Our expectation is to write 50,000 words in one month, BUT it has taken me three months to write the first 50,000 words of my current novel.

So, wish me luck!  I hope I can proudly say, come the end of November, that I accomplished my goal, but if I end up mumbling something less than 50,000 words as my accomplishment, don’t judge me too harshly.

Also, does anyone else plan to participate this year?

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiime Is Not On My Side, No It Isn’t!

 

 

Very few of us have the luxury of writing full time. We have jobs, school, kids (or at least I’m assuming some of you do), and general obligations that make finding time to write difficult if not a pain in the ass. Yet we’re here and we aspire to be that person who no longer works the nine to five or graveyard shift to pay the bills. I hope to one day be that person I also hope to finish my degree so I can set down the textbooks for a while. My goal is to not have to get out of my pajamas to work. I probably will get out of my pajamas but I want the option.

The past week with school back in session I find that I’m very stressed out trying to figure out when I can get it all done. I will admit I am not the best time manager and need to find a way to change my habits. I bought a day planner to try and organize but it is difficult as homework and my job as a server leave me with an erratic schedule at best. Then again many others have had the same if not worse schedules and have gone on to be best-selling authors; so please go ahead and have some cheese to go with my whine (I myself am a fan of goat cheese and gorgonzola.)

Since the stress has led to insomnia I have decided to ostrich a bit and pretend that writing a novel is easy and that the publishing world is all rainbows and ponies, at least for one more night before reality must again rear its evil head. To help me do this and so that you may join me on this magical journey I have for you the lovely and talented Jackson Pearce’s video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ_-TOJhXXk

I hope you all enjoyed that, and do take her advice and watch it while listening to “Do You Believe In Magic.”

Who’s Head Are We In?

As a writer, you are made aware that there are a number of rules by which you must write.  Part of me, the one pepetually stuck in my teenage years, wants to thumb my nose at this never ending list of Do’s and Don’ts.  However, I’m a logical, thinking adult…and I still want to thumb my nose at the damn list.  Since writing is a craft you are continually perfecting, I have no doubt that I have broken several of these rules without even thinking about it. 

Yet, until my latest WIP, there is one rule I’ve been very careful of not breaking–keeping a consistent point of view.

If you’ve read (or are planning to read) my first two books, you’ll note that we are always in Raine’s point of view.  Since I’m easily confused, will just label my style as Third Person Limited–basically the story is told from the protagonist’s POV using “he” and “she”.  This has worked quite well for me, until Xander and Warrick decided to show up. 

I’ve tried the First Person POV–everything told from the protagonist’s POV.  This style lures you in with the promise of pulling your readers in closer to your character.  Those snickers you hear as you dive in? That’s the style laughing it’s ass off at you because you have stepped into the quagmire of “I thought…”,  “I moved…”, “I…”,  “I…” and it so hard to drag yourself free.  I have mad respect for all those writers who’ve used First Person POV brillantly.  I’ll even admit to having a partial story in this style.  It’s now sitting in a corner by itself until it learns to behave better.

There is this term–”Head hopping” that most writers hear.  For those not familiar with this term, pick up a book and tell me, how many of the characters are telling the story?  Are there chapter or scene breaks inbetween each character’s scene?  If so, the writer is skating the thin edge of the rules, but doing well.  But say you go from John’s perspective to Mary’s, then to Roman’s all within a page, back to John’s, then to Roman’s, then to Mary’s, all within two pages, that’s called head hopping.  It’s a bit like standing in the center of the room with the characters surrounding you and you spin endlessly trying to follow along.

Now, one of my favorite authors (and no, I’m not sharing the name) likes to head hop, and they have TONS of books out there.  As a reader I’m okay with it, those stories work for me. As a writer, I’ve tried very hard never to head hop.  For me (THIS IS MY OPINION!) I always felt like I was cheating if I had to use multiple perspectives to get the story across to the readers. 

*clears throat* 

Recently, I’ve had to change my mind.  Those who’ve been following along know I’ve struggled to get Shadow’s Moon under way as I searched for the correct POV to do the story from.  Finally, this weekend, it hit–this story is about two very distinct people, therefore the reader needs to hear both of their voices. 

*sigh*

So those rules you hear all the time, take them with a huge salt lick.  Rules are a great way to help you start out in writing, but don’t be afraid of ignoring them and jumping off your creative cliff occassionally. You’ll be surprised what meets you half way down! 

 Wicked

Perfection is so hard to acheive…

The other day our highly intelligent and quite demanding Snarky Dwarf sent me a link to a blog post. 

http://kriswrites.com/2012/06/27/the-business-rusch-perfection/

Here’s the thing, this post was just what I needed to read at this particular moment. With two books out there, and working on a third, I’m starting to recognize that there are a couple of stages in the writing game every writer goes through.  The first one comes after you begin to fall from that high of being published and seeing your first work out there–all alone in the big bad world of readers, where it can be raised up and kicked down faster than lightning.  You try not to get obsessive about the reviews, feedback and those pesky things known as ratings, but those little voices manage to wiggle their way in and tear bits and pieces off of your creativity.  Together those small things gain strength, and so the debilitating question looms on your writing horizon—can I really manage to write another book?

Answer: Hell, yeah you can.  You’re a writer, stop worrying about what’s being said out there.  You’re out there. Readers are reading you. You have to be doing something right. So in a truly horribly NY/Bronx accent “Forget about it!” and write your story.  Take the things you’ve learned with your first book, do them better or fix them in your second.

Once I made it through and got the second book done, it was time to tackle the third.  This was hard because I was leaving behind the familiarity of Raine and Gavin to focus on another character, Xander.  Granted she has some of the same things that makes Raine, well Raine, but she uniquely herself.  It took me longer than expected to get Xander and Warrick’s story off the ground.  Now that I’m about 100 pages in, it’s starting to come together…bit by bit. 

Yet while I’m crafting this story, I’m still getting feedback on Shadow’s Edge and Shadow’s Soul.  I know you’ll never please all your readers all of the time, but it is so easy to fall into the downward spiral of  “OMG, I need to change this…” or “Maybe I should do this instead…” Second guessing ourselves is not productive, not even a little bit.

Reading Kris’s post as she discusses when is your book truly done…I so needed to hear her when she said,

“I’m here to tell you this: If you want a career as a writer, ignore your critics.

When the book is finished, when the book is published for heaven’s sake, then it’s done. Irrevocably done. Mistakes and all.”

So now, I make it a point not to obsess over rankings or critiques–readers will either love it or hate it, it’s out there, I’m not changing it.  For now, all I can do as a writer, is take what I’ve learned, and use it for Shadow’s Moon.  And the mistakes I make in that story, I’ll just use those to make the next one even better. 

I’m a writer, but I won’t be much of one if I don’t learn and grow from my screw-ups.  Besides, who knows, maybe one of those screw-ups will turn into a flash of genius!

So BZZZ Busy…

So looked at my calendar and realized that OMG I NEED TO GET A POST DONE!  So huge apologies for the very brief post this week but man, oh man, has it been busy. Small fires flaring up everywhere, the Prankster Duo turning my hair gray (not like it had far to go), and then just hours ago realizing that the third revision of chapter 2 for book 3 must be re-written.

And here’s why Chapter 2 is up for another rewrite and a small peek into a writer’s brain–

You have a rogue werewolf who’s chasing down his ex-girlfriend who’s dumped him and was out clubbing with friends before hooking up with a new guy.  Furball takes exception to the rival and leaves him in a bloody heap, not breathing.  Then proceeds to corner ex in a club.  There they argue and she turns her back on him and walks away. Now, what’s more believable?

A.  Furball gets mad, Xander confronts him and he proceeds to head to the alley and the rumble between him and Xander ensues.  This means the humans are still in the dark about the existence of shifters.

or

B.  Furball gets mad, Xander confronts him and he proceeds to lose control tearing apart the varied humans around him causing a panic which limits Xander’s ability to reach him.  When she finally does, they rumble admist a screaming storm of body parts and panicking humans.  Now Division gets called in, Warrick the Alpha gets called in and it’s one big cluster.

So which makes more exciting reading?

Yep, I’m with you..so back to the drawing board and we’ll start drafting Version B.

*SIGH*  Even with an outline this book is being a stubborn ass from the get go.  Just when I think I have it all figured out, my characters snicker, slap me across the face and dash away.

I love being a writer…

–Wicked

What’s in a name?

Welcome back, all! Sorry for the disappearing act last week.  Wish I could tell you the reason behind it involved fame and fortune, instead it was more along the lines of bills were due and if I want the ability to pay them to continue I must fulfill my oath to the cubicle gods and do what I promised. So I did.  All week long.  I even survived the strange liquid they call “rain” for it.  Oh the sacrifices I make.

Enough wallowing…on to our last editing piece of advice–the usage of names.

I’m not sure about other writers, but I snagged slots of time where I can to sneak away and put my stories to paper (or input into a computer, as the case may be).  The drawback to this approach is that while your story’s timeline maybe cruising right along, your writing timeline is not.  Therefore, what eventually reads as a mere five minutes for your characters across five pages, in reality took you two weeks to get down just right.  In this strange time warp of writing, I found that I have a tendency to think my readers may forget who they’re reading about. Probably because I’m so frustrated by various bumps and detours in those five pages, I’d rather give up and start with fresh new characters.  In a whole new story.  But I digress.

Imagine how shocked I was when one of my brilliant editors pointed out, quite gently and so compassionately, that perhaps I needed to discover the word “she” and “he” once more as prospective readers may suffer severe brain damage from being bashed continually over the head with my character names.  Mortification was immediate.  Said brilliant editor, then went on to explain that the words “she” and “he” are invisible to the readers unless you start too many sentences with those pronouns.

In keeping with my sharing actually examples, here’s my last one for you from Shadow’s Edge (if you want more, you’ll have to buy it when it comes out in November!)

Gavin came at her in a blur. Barely blocking his first hit, she responded with a snapping series of punches and kicks then dodged back out of reach. He pursued her. His hands struck out, followed by a quick foot-sweep.

She landed on her back, twisted to the side, crouched, and got her feet set, before kicking out. A solid hit to his thigh knocked him off balance just enough for her to pull back and set up for her next move. Back and forth they moved, focused and deadly, the silence broken by occasional grunts and the thick sound of flesh hitting flesh. Fifteen minutes later, they stepped back and bowed to each other.

Raine, chest heaving, was grateful to see Gavin breathing equally hard. There would be bruises and aches tomorrow, but the rage was banked for now, leaving her calmer, steadier. She met his eyes and found an echo of the primitive joy she always felt after a fight. Watching Gavin in predator mode touched her primal female core. Without thinking she gave him a fierce grin, receiving a similar baring of teeth.

“So, now that the preliminaries are out of the way,” she said. “What next?”

Gavin chuckled and shook his head. “You’re one of the few females I know, Raine, that gets off on fighting.”

“Hey a girl has to have a hobby.” Raine’s voice was muffled as she wiped the sweat off her face with a towel. “You have to admit it was fun.”

“It’s definitely one way to blow off a little steam.” Grabbing his own towel, he began to wipe his chest. Her eyes caught the motion.  Her breath hitched briefly before steadying out. His chest was truly fascinating, but looking was a dangerous indulgence, especially right now. However, her silent warning did not stop her damn hormones from clamoring for attention.

“I can think of other things that work just as well, if not better,” he offered, his voice darker, seductive. The flare of arousal in his green eyes let her know she’d been caught staring. “Like what you see?”

More than he’d ever know. “It’s distracting, but I’ll live,” she responded, knowing this attraction was a mess, just waiting to happen.

In this scene, if we remove a few proper names we get a more fluid scene.

He came at her in a blur. Barely blocking his first hit, she responded with a snapping series of punches and kicks then dodged back out of reach. He pursued her. His hands struck out, followed by a quick foot-sweep.

She landed on her back, twisted to the side, crouched, and got her feet set, before kicking out. A solid hit to his thigh knocked him off balance just enough for her to pull back and set up for her next move. Back and forth they danced, focused and deadly, the silence broken by occasional grunts and the thick sound of flesh hitting flesh. Fifteen minutes later, they stepped back and bowed to each other.

Raine, chest heaving, was grateful to see Gavin breathing equally hard. There would be bruises and aches tomorrow, but the rage was banked for now, leaving her calmer, steadier. She met his hooded gaze and found an echo of the primitive joy she always felt after a fight. Watching Gavin in predator mode touched her primal feminine core. Without thinking she gave him a fierce grin, receiving a similar baring of teeth.

“So, now that the preliminaries are out of the way,” she said. “What next?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re one of the few females I know that gets off on fighting.”

“Hey a girl has to have a hobby.” Her voice was muffled as she wiped the sweat off her face with a towel. “You have to admit it was fun.”

“It’s definitely one way to blow off a little steam.” Grabbing his own towel, he began to wipe his chest. Her eyes caught the motion and her breath hitched briefly before steadying out. His chest was truly fascinating, but looking was a dangerous indulgence, especially right now. However, her silent warning did not stop her damn hormones from clamoring for attention.

“I can think of other things that work just as well, if not better,” he offered, his voice darker, seductive. The flare of arousal in his green eyes let her know she’d been caught staring. “Like what you see?”

More than he’d ever know. “It’s distracting, but I’ll live,” she responded, knowing this attraction was a mess, just waiting to happen.

So now that we’ve covered some of the basic editing rules in the last few weeks, go forth, prepare and get ready to write.  Besides, NANO is just around the corner. Put your new-found skills to work and create your masterpiece!

Until next week! I’m going to go enjoy my Blood Red Eerie brought me!

Wicked