Character or plot?

I’m a plotter, I can admit that fully. I like my little road map laid out before I begin writing, even though I know full well that at the end, the book probably won’t look much like my initial outline.

That’s because as I write, my characters take on their own personalities and decide from there on out where they’re damn well going to go.

But being a plotter, I still need to know quite a bit about my characters before I can start that initial outline.

I recently sat down to plot book 5 in my Heart of a Vampire series. I wrote two pages of outline before my heart sank and I showed it to Wicked.

She laughed.

My characters were wimps and the story was going nowhere.

Which is when I finally realized I didn’t know nearly enough about my characters to even begin plotting.

 

So, my Q4U: Writers – how well do you need to know your characters before you begin to write?

Readers – Are you drawn to books with more action oriented plots, or by great characters (or both)?

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?

Series Issues

 

Recently, I read a series that came very highly recommended, as well as, part of another series.  I enjoyed both series, but was intrigued by the different ways these two authors created them.

The first author wrote a series that felt almost like a few separate books, with one central character, rather than a series.  As I continued reading books in this series, I realized that every book could stand entirely by itself, which was good in a lot of ways.  But, there was nothing in these books that made me compelled to read the next book.  Once I started reading a book, I always wanted to continue reading it, but I didn’t mind taking long gaps between reading one book and the next.  Still, I felt that creating a series this way would make it difficult to retain readers, unless they were extremely devoted.

The second author wrote a book FILLED with tons of characters and intricate subplots.  I am only a few short pages from finishing this book, but I found the number of characters confusing, and even though I got the sense that a lot of them will be important in the future, many of them seemed to make no real difference in this book.  So, why was I even introduced to them?

I have to believe these characters will be important in future books, but I wonder why I simply wasn’t introduced to them in these books.  Or, at the very least, I wish I hadn’t spent so many pages reading about characters that disappeared in the rest of the book.  But, I did feel compelled to read this book, and I am very excited to read the other books in the series.  I imagine this series has absolutely no problem retaining its readers, because you really want to know what will happen next.  The author does an excellent job creating a lot of questions that leave the reader wanting more.

So, what are your thoughts?  Is it better to introduce multiple characters that leave your readers curious about future books, or save those characters for when they really matter?

It’s Amazing What A Little Time Off Will Bring…

I came back to the Swamp on Sunday after spending the weekend with Snarky at the RWA Desert Dreams conference down in the Valley of the Sun and found the Zombie Horde had finally deserted Dreamer’s little piece of property.  I’m guessing Eerie and Mischevious have been making tracks to the Impentrable Forest considering the path of gnawed bones littering the trail.  Have to love those Piranha Hummingbirds, they clean their dinner plates!  Not to worry, the Prankster Duo has no problem attracting new Zombies, it seems to be an inborn talent of theirs.

So after rounding up the Hellhound, I was pleased to see my Knight in Slightly Muddy Armor had managed to keep the Duo busy while I was away.  Seems there was a required marathon of movies involving a horned-helmeted blond with a facination for hammers, a green muscle head with a temper problem, and that dashing king of sarcasm who looks good in red and self perpetuating battery.  Something about all three, plus a red-head in latex and, if I do say so myself, a rather good looking archer gathering for their debut this weekend. The tickets have already been purchased–twice.

In the meantime, Snarky and I attended this conference.  Now you may wonder why two paranormal, urban fantasy writers would attend a gathering of those mavens of love and hard chests, but there are some really good workskhops at these things. Plus we were considering kidnapping a few agents and editors for our own amusement.  Since this time I wasn’t on pins and needles endlessly practicing my story pitch, I was able to enjoy the expierence.  For writers, conferences are like a red carpet gala–you get to meet the actual human that writes those books you wait on pins and needles for every Tuesday.  It can reduce a 41 year old to a 16 year old in like two minutes flat.  It’s so embarrassing!

Anyway, other than the massive amounts of information that I’m still processing, the biggest success I pulled from my three day stint was the eight hour brainstorming session Snarky and I indulged ourselves in.  What was funny was there was an actual brain storming session planned on Saturday night during the dinner.  We got a head start, because that’s just how we roll.  We headed over to the nearest barrista heaven, spent two and half hours there before realizing we might miss dinner, dashed back to the conference, gathered necessary sustanance, then hunkered down in our room and balcony and spent the next 6 plus hours taking everything that had been thrown at us and incorporating it into our WIPs (works in progress).

Doing things this way is a double edged sword.  I was having issues with Shadow’s Moon (Book 3 of the Kyn Kronicles) and by the end of the evening realized why (you really do need a strong villian for a good story!), and now all those pages I’ve accumlated are being moved to the cut pile–yes indeed, we are starting over.  Here’s hoping that since there’s a clearer picture of where we’re going and Xander’s stopped being so damn coy, it will go much faster.  Plus Snarky figured out her sticking point on her hush-hush project.  It’s hard to explain to a non-writer how much fun the expierence was because for some peeps the idead of talking through plot points, character motivation, series arcs, and personalities is just….blehh!  But for me–I LOVED IT! 

Plus it was the most awesomest thing in the world to meet both newbie and not-so-newbie writers and READERS! I swear the writing community just rocks.  Conferences are where no one gets upset if you space in the middle of a conversation, they understand sometimes those voices in your head just drown out those around you.  Plus where else could you chat about what exactly constitutes a psychopath versus a sociopath, or why corsets are a hell of a lot harder to get rid of than just “ripping” them off–think bones and damn tough material? There was even the most entertaining conversation regarding the staminia of the men of the Paranormal community versus the rakes of the historicals–truly riveting!

Now the goal is to make it to the Paranormal Conference next year because as lovely as the RWA crowd was–I think I’d like to expierence the wild, twisted worlds of the Paranorms for a bit.  Think of what it would do to my Muse!  She’d have others to play blade-darts with, they could go on Zombie hunts, and maybe torment a few demons along the way.   Who knows, maybe we’ll get to come back with new alligator boots next year! 

-Wicked

#Amwriting ~ Crows and plotting and brick walls

Well, thank goodness Mischievous is finally back. Although I must admit, I was looking forward to making me some crocodile skin boots.

Now that I mention it, though, I might just be able to…

Erm. Well, anyway. Welcome back Mischievous. I hope your captivity wasn’t too harsh… for the poor people who had you. I mean, come on. Kids couldn’t stand up to that crow’s mouth.

Anyway, I’ve finished the first book in my soon-coming Vampire series. It’s out to the wonderful Dwarves (and edits are already coming back).

The good news is, the book isn’t bad, LOL. I’ll be digging back into edits soon.

But I’m currently trying to write book 2.

I’m a plotter, I fully admit it. When I sat down and sketched outlines for the first three books, I was raring to go. Now that I’m actually writing book two, I realize I just can’t write with a sketch. I need an actual outline.

So, I hit the brick wall. (Don’t worry, I did more damage to it than it did to me.)

I fixed the first few chapters (for now) and am stuck again.

I was planning on trying to smash the wall, but since I have a sick kiddo home today, my well-laid plans have gone awry. The brick wall is safe.

Instead, I’m going to sit down and actually plot out the book. I use skimpy outlines, with a sentence or two telling me what should happen in each scene/chapter. I know we have flying pants writers in this group. And you know what? Awesome. It works for them.

Me? If I don’t have the bare bones of my plot written down, that brick wall just jumps right in front of me.

So, happy writing to ya’ll. Today, I’m gonna plot.

~ Snarky

The Horrifying Blank Page…

So with 2012 off to a stumbling start and the fact that it coincides with the fact that I have to start an entire new book from scratch, I thought I’d drag you along each week as I trip my way down the writer’s path of creation.

From previous entries you’ll have noticed that I thought I was doing well.  I had what I thought was book 3 all plotted out.  I even used an actual outline this time around.  I was so puffed up with a sense of accomplishment, which lasted until I gathered at the Swamp Shack with some of the other Dwarves.  Then my puffiness deflated into an oozing pile of goo.

They weren’t overly mean.  I mean I could hear Eerie whispering with Mischievous and only made out a few words: “How the Fur Flies might work”, Quirky just kept saying over and over again, “No, no, no…”, Smokey perked in with an occasional “Did you say you created a book tree? What’s a book tree?”, Jedi  just held onto her Yoda Zen-like opinion  of “Write, do not write, there is only plot” and Snarky, she kept stroking her whip while giving me the evil eye.  Seriously, really not the normal bloodbath but still…

After much debate, some ducking of flying objects I reluctantly had to admit that yes, this would make a fantastic book 4, and I needed to go back and not cheat my future readers and follow  (no spoilers allowed) this particular character for book 3.

So I spent a few days tossing sharp edged things at the wall to see what would stick.  I scratched out a new plot outline, which was similar to pulling teeth with no Novocain.   So now I have a plot that will work with the overall story arc but I can’t get my opening scene to gel!

My typical application of Lady Clairol is just not up to the challenge of covering my spontaneous eruptions of white hair as I labor to bring forth the bestest opening scene ever.  However, this time instead of worrying over the bones of it, much like the hellhound and his decapitated duck from Christmas, I’ve given my self until this weekend to get it together.  Because come Swamp Gas or Zombie hordes, I will begin this book this weekend.

New Year, New Story…

Okay so the New Year has arrived and it’s time to get back to writing.  Shadow’s Soul is out being eviscerated, I mean critiqued, by the other Evil Six so I decided to start the year off write…I began to plot out Raine and Gavin’s next adventure.

But to get to this point took time.  Here’s a little insight into the schizophrenic maze known as a writer’s mind. 

I’ve spent the last few weeks prepping the Prankster Duo, the knight in slightly muddy armor, and the hellhound for the holidays.  We had to hunt down holiday gifts, bind them and then deliver them out to the other Swamp residents.  The Swamp Thing family has had a rough time this season so we had to sneak in late one night to leave their gift on the doorstep in an effort not to be dragged into their “martial discussions”. The Prankster Duo managed to get in and get out without any major setbacks (fires, explosions, dismemberment, etc.) while delivering Smokey, Quirky and Jedi’s gifts.  The knight and I took on the tougher residents. Evading Snarky’s newest whip was perilous and dropping off Eerie and Mischievous’ gifts, well I won’t go into detail. Suffice to say the hellhound was in need of some bone therapy afterwards, and knight’s armor had a few more dents to add to his collection.  Don’t tell Eerie, but I think I lost a blade to one of the shambling hordes.

Regardless, we made it through the season.  The Prankster Duo has increased their weaponry supply with some new additions and they’ve been tormenting the zombies scuffling through the Swamp.  The hellhound was quite pleased with his decapitated duck and unidentified leg bone.  Overall it was a lovely Holiday!

While hunting down and setting sneaky traps for our holiday gifts, I decided to pare down the towering pile of nightstand books and got caught up with some of my favorite stories.  When I finished with that, it was time to face the ominous quest looming on my horizon… the creation of my next book.

For those not familiar with a writer, let me explain why your writer friends seem to morph into bi-polar maniacs with multiple personalities in-between their Works in Progress (aka WIPs).  We all fear the blank page or screen that mocks us with its whiteness. 

Typing the last word on your last story is a relief, until you realize you have to start all over again.  Regardless if you’re doing a stand-alone or a series, beginning a story is terrifying.  Let’s follow along with my neurosis as I begin a new WIP.

First question that hits—can I do it?  Can I really get another three to four hundred pages that will keep a reader on the edge of their seat? Am I all tapped out? Was writing that last book, was that it?

A few deep breaths and a handful of chocolate later I’ve managed to smash that stupid voice into silence.  Yes, I’m a writer, damn it, I can do this.  I’ve done it before.

Next question—so do I continue with Raine and Gavin or do I let other characters have their own story? Should I go back to that other story line and take a break from Raine? If I continue with Raine, I’ll have to pitch to my editor for book three, if I don’t I’ll have to go back out to the vicious world of pitches and throw myself on the mercy of another editor.  What to do?

I re-read the 125 pages I have of the other WIP and it hits me…this isn’t going to work without some major re-writing.  Where do I start? Should I throw it away and just start from scratch? I mean, I really like some of it, but other parts are going to have me sporting a Sinead O’Connor look real quick.  Oh man, maybe it’s not so smart to go back to that one just yet….okay let’s think about Raine. 

What do I need to do next? Where is the overall story arc going? Every book has to accomplish something or why write their story? Fine, let’s torment the newly established couple, throw in some twists and turns and then…miracle of miracles, words are spitting across the page.  A plot emerges.  This is good, I haven’t lost the ability yet. 

Okay so I have a plot, but I’m still thinking this year I’d like to get two books done, so where do I focus?  How do I choose which gets to be done first? The massive re-write or begin Raine’s latest adventure?

Dear God I think the voices in my head are going to stomp my brain into mush and it will leak out of my ears and then neither story will get written.  ARRRGHHH!!!

I manage to piece together Raine’s story and I’m turning over how to re-write the other story, but in the meantime those around me are giving me a wide berth.  Maybe it’s the fact I’m continuously mumbling under my breath while wildly gesturing to get the voices to lower to a dull roar, or maybe it’s the fact that while eating a lovely dinner with family, I blurt out, “She’s being hunted by a psychic psychopath!”

Chairs scrape a few more inches away from me, the Prankster Duo just shake their heads, and knight simply responds in a gently voice, “Do you want some more chocolate, babe?”

And the year has barely begun…

Wicked!