'Thinking'

Hmm, yesterday I was sitting in front of the boobtube watching - you guessed it - FOOTBALL!!!! and realized that my last blog was on the first football Sunday of the year. Now, it's not like I only function on football Sundays but the last few weeks, it's been the highlight. Sick, huh.

I'm still trying to wrestle the community of characters into shape on RC. So in addition to eating something that didn't sit well with my stomach all week and pulling a muscle on the treadmill (I told you that would happen), I had to just grit my teeth and plow through all my notes, character sketches, prewritten scenes, to get organized.

I know where it's going, some high points, though I don't know where they'll end up - end of a chapter, end of the book, the second book... My plot is essentially character driven so if I understand my characters' past and present, their paranormal natures and abilites, I'll wing the rest.

In my notes, I came across four scenes that I'd meant to write, so over the weekend I wrote 4000k. God, it was good. Reminded me what I'm preparing to do - and research ain't it.

So what to call my thinking process? I mean it should have a name. It can't really be research when some aspects are totally fiction. Planning seems to involve plotting, and I don't do plotting. Inventing, procrastinating... Then, I remembered that Allison Brennan, a pantser, said she'd been planning her paranormal suspense series for eighteen months! Yowsa! That's a scary thought. But this was done while she was writing her other books and actually it took much longer than that. What did she call her process? Drum roll (bdddDDDDDrrp)

THINKING! (Duh, so much for grandiose terms.) She quoted Steven King who said if there's a simple word for it - use it. Great minds...

Yesterday I brainstormed some titles. A good working title helps me stay focused on the story's theme. Also, finally got everything organized into my Scrivener file. I can promise you it won't be 18 months before I get back into it, more like a month. My new goal is November 1st - the start of NaNoWriMo so I can use the momentum to write a bunch in November.

How many words do you average a day/week/month? How long does it take you to finish a rough draft? I seem to write around 900 words per sitting in sprints, 2500-3000 on good days so I think 1000 a day average would be safe for goal setting. That would be a rough draft in 3-4 months. I could live with that.

On another note, don't forget Castle starts tonight on ABC. And of course, Monday Night Football. (Saints won big time - again - but that's a subject for another blog.)

The END is near...

For the last couple months I've been in the world building process for my RC fantasy/paranormal. Reading everything I can put my hands on in the fantasy/ paranormal, mystery and thriller genres has helped me eliminate those aspects of the world that I don't want to use, what kind of tone I'm setting, how my voice will affect overall plot. How dark is it going to be? What subgenre is it likely to fall into? Will it be a series with the same main characters or different hero/heroine in each? Butcher, Arthur, Mead, Coley, Elrod, Harris, Sparks, Evanovich, Vincent, Murphy, McCaffrey, Kellogg, Aiken, Causey, Kirton, Davidson, and lately a fellow writer suggested Ellory adn Kerr. Like I said, everything I could find. Truly, the worlds that authors create are as varied as their voices, no matter the subject or similarity of species.

I'm a pantser so doing an intricate outline or knowing exactly what's going to happen when isn't in the cards. But I want to understand the characters' personalities, the paranormal beings and the rules of their species, and put down some of the scenes that have been playing in my head. Though necessary, the prep phase has turned into a time consuming and sleep-disrupting task. I know I won't know everything - I could probably keep doing this for a year. But the more I understand when I move forward, the easier it will be to wing it as I go.

I said sleep-disrupting. Last night I dreamed that the stars were turning into supernovas while we watched and before I could get out of the dream, the weather was changing, the earth was going dark and complete DOOM was near. There were some particularly nasty creatures on the way as well. It was one of those dreams that even as the clarity of the detail fades, the feeling of doom remains. Not like most nights when I awake around 4am and have creative and usable ideas to jot down. This morning, I just wanted to escape to the real world to cleanse my brain with sunny skies and the everyday doldrums of the bayou. I may have to meditate tonight or watch a child's Disney movie like DUMBO before bedtime. Maybe it's a sign that the end of the preparation phase is drawing to a close. I wonder if I'll know when it's time. I sure do want to get back into the story.

My best ideas yesterday came while washing my hair in the shower, a veritable flood of insight. I wasn't even aware that I'd been thinking about the book. It was a giant leap for RC, some of the core elements for my main character's background came together which made some plotpoints (from my very sketchy plot) fall into place. Normally, a two hour drive will set the creative juices flowing but a shower is less expensive, don't you know?

Where do you get your inspiration? When you're blocked or doing the prepwork for your book, what strategies do you use?

BIAW - Back in the Saddle Again

Finally, after months of inactivity due to the crawfish season, I'm writing forward again. Looking back I can see that those long trips to haul crawfish allowed me to brainstorm the characters, their world and the genre. Something was missing. This was to be a contemporary romantic mystery and I'd already written about 15k. When I decided it needed a paranormal twist, the twist took on a life of its own and now, it's an entirely different book.

Barbara White Daille's Book in A Week, BIAW, which is offered one week out of each month, began this week. If you're interested you can contact Barbara at BIAW@barbarawhitedaille.com.

I had never participated before because I thought it was like Nano, only allowing you to write a new story, all new material. Barbara cracks a gentle whip and encourages writing forward but also allows revising/editing, outlining, though no research, blogging, tweeting, etc. which makes sense since those activities are such time hogs.

It felt good when I began the week with 11,000 words in three days. Once I'd completed a synopsis/rough draft, I had to stop, split my scenes up in scrivener and then create my outline from those scenes. That took a day. Then I was able to write a couple scenes to wind up with around 12,500 words for the week.

If I hadn't joined BIAW would I have been as productive? I don't know for sure but doubt it. I readied myself for the starting gun. If not for the Monday goal, it may have been Wednesday or next week before I stopped researching and planning and started writing.

It was wonderful to be creating again. Even better than singing for a small intuitive audience who loves guitar and ballads. With singing, the feeling comes from fine tuning the sound or in rendering it in a new way. I don't write the songs. Writing is a newer passion. It's hard. And it's pure joy!

Have you tried BIAW or BIAM. How did you find these shorter programs in comparison to NaNoWriMo.

Writing Sprints

Wow, I'm brain dead. Been writing since 8 this morning. This was the day I planned to get back on the RCM/paranormal. I signed up for BIAW and was determined to get my research done in time to move forward.

Then our DSRA chapter sent a post that they were sprinting. Cadence and Cora and I had heard about their sprints from Delilah and I was looking forward to trying the timed writing. They open AIM and go 45/15 all day, depending on what everybody has doing. Delilah finished editing a book she wrote yesterday on a sprint!

I managed 5,552 words today. First words I'm written substantially in a couple months because of crawfish season. I'm soooo happy with that. It's very rough at this point because after Nola Stars I decided to drop back and reevaluate what I'd written, paying closer attention to the character motivations and turning points.

I'm not finished with the research. A fellow writer and blogger of May Contain Nuts, Michael Malone, a talented poet and writer, sent me a link to an online Scottish Dictionary. I've been trying to come up with the names for the towns in the book. So today, in order to keep moving, I just had to put three Xs for one town, 4Xs, 5 and so forth. Tomorrow I'll try that suggestion Michael gave me for naming the area.

I figured if I wrote awhile the plot would help me defind what some of the characters need to be and whether I need more of them. I do.

If you're struggling with finding time or getting the words down, you might want to try timed writing. To stimulate your brain, pop new ideas and push the work forward. I'll clean it up and go in more depth with what I wrote tomorrow then try it again when I'm ready.

Firsts

My friend, Leah Braemel, was blogging over on Coffee Time about Firsts. I commented that one of my firsts is writing a paranormal. I was referring to my current WIP but I discovered recently that I'd written one when I was a kid that I'd forgotten about how freckles came about.

It involved a mad Greek god, Persephone and a pomegranate.

Where's the pomegranate?

Satisfied Feeling

I know you've been there. You know you have a good idea for a story but there's some indefinable something that you're hung up on. Been scratching my head over my wip, RC ever since taking Delilah Devlin and Elle Jame's Blotting Bootcamp in March. Bad timing. I was about 15k in the story, trying to figure out what to pitch for the Nola Stars conference.

After taking the class I realized I didn't understand the characters well enough to move forward. Since I've been bogged down in crawfish season anyway, I've used my infrequent snatches of time to look at characters, plot ideas, writing new beginnings, a few new scenes, gradually getting closer to what I wanted.

All along, I've thought, if I could just figure out the twist that would make this more than just a contemporary romance mystery. I had an agent and a publisher request it after I pitched it on the spur of the moment, but I knew I needed an extra spark.

Last week I decided to place the story in Louisiana, after all, I know the area and I'd been looking for another region that had alligators and swamps. Then...Sunday morning I dreamed about RCM. A scene popped into my head that has changed the entire complexion of the book. It will be a paranormal. Now, I'm excited about it. Looking forward to moving forward.

My goal had been to do that yesterday but now I have to revamp my Scrivener file to allow for new research, consolidate old files, and do the research on some of the changes. I finished the mechanics in Scrivener of pulling the files together, now I have to read through it all again and figure out what is going to work and what to trash. Tomorrow, it's on to Big Town to use the high speed internet and do my research. Hopefully, by end of week or Monday next, I'll be back on track. Yes!

Alien flowers

I have proof that at least one alien woman has been here. No earthling bred this flower!






Went to pick up more tomatoes for Crawfish Man to plant and when I saw all the pretty flowers I just had to have a few - $50 worth to plant around my writing space by the bayou.

Gorgeous impatiens, a new orange daisy, petunias in pinks and reds, an azalea that blloms three times a year and this little outerspace flower. Isn't it cool?

Fortunately for my writing schedule we have another cold spell coming tonight and tomorrow night so I won't get to plant them until later in the week. I'll update my bayou pictures when everything blooms.

Today I have to worry about chapter 2 of MOL revision and writing something new, probably RCM. I'll report my progress later.

Creativity R&R

I've been finding myself very frustrated at not beginning anything new just going round after round on a project I used to love and now... well, you know. Maybe you're in revision hell at the end of a finished project. Or maybe you're in the muddy middle of your current WIP (or two).

Either way I'll bet you could use a little new project escape. So I'd like to challenge you to allow yourself a little R&R, a new project retreat to stimulate the writer's senses and break out of the stale current work into the glorious realm of 'something fresh'.

Once a week for one month - on your worst writing day, your most intensive family day or at lunch every Wednesday, write something new. A scene, some dialogue, a character description. Long hand, pc hand, short hand, or on a napkin. A paragraph or a page a week, surely it will become more.

I've been collecting 'ideas' on my handy digital voice recorder but like Heather Sellers says in her book, "Chapter after Chapter", an idea is in the head. For it to ever to become a creative written endeavor, it must be written. '

Instead of writing notes like 'a story about a babsitter' write: Dana said, "You didn't pay me last time, either, Heather." And she smacked that gum which seemed to be a weird striped gum, green and purple, both. Transition out of ideas into images.'

So, on a day when there's too much scheduled to be constructive on the revisions, I'll schedule in a short creative writing session with some of these stored up ideas and work them into images. Please share how this works for you.

I think I'll feel enthused and pumped and who knows - maybe it will turn into my next WIP. I'll let you know next week how I do on RCM.