Shiny New Ideas

Two years ago, I was starting to get worried. It had been a while since I’d had a ‘shiny new idea’ and I knew that NaNoWriMo was coming up. I try and write something brand new for NaNoWriMo, and by the middle of the year, I usually had a basic idea for what I would work on.

I really didn’t need to worry. It’s amazing how stress can affect the creative muscle. By the end of July, I had a full-fledge idea, one that turned into four books, and sustained me for two years of NaNoWriMo.

You’d think that I’d learn from that experience, but here I am, two years later, again worried about NaNoWriMo. The rest of the year, I know I’m set. I’m editing and revising to my heart’s content, but the closer I get to November, the more my brain starts to panic, thinking that I won’t be ready.

Most of my panic is because I’m a planner. I need a thick and detailed bible ready before I can even start writing the first word. I want to know the direction the story’s headed, and the character backgrounds. I need to know the culture, their beliefs… I even tend to draw out the setting so I have a feel for the world.

I had a basic idea, but it wasn’t fleshed out, mostly because it was so generalized and so vague that I didn’t even know how to flesh it out.

Here’s the secret to shiny new ideas:

Always pay attention to everything. You never know what will start a spark.

Last time this happened, hubby and I went to the museum for our anniversary. Not because either of us were particularly interested in pirates, but because we wanted to get out of the house. The entire experience was a fodder for ideas, and pirates played a heavy role in my later book.

This year, all it took was an article on Pinterest, with a title that was much more interesting than the article itself. It was the spark that I needed to turn my vague idea into something that keeps me awake at night, planning and plotting for November.

How about the rest of you? Where do you get your ideas? Are you already planning for NaNoWriMo?

Thinking Like a Nurse

In October, I helped plan for the second annual Rexburg Teen Writers Conference. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of stress, all at once. We’d planned for everything. We had food ready for the presenters, we had the venue, and different volunteers to make sure it ran smoothly. We were able to get projectors for presentations, and we had Barnes and Noble coming to sell books through the whole thing.

The night before the conference started, I had a terrible feeling in my gut. I’d gotten off work that morning, and I guess I had residual “Nurse Krista” brain. But the things that concerned me wouldn’t leave me alone.

What if someone passed out and we needed to do CPR? What if someone has a violent allergic reaction? Or what if…

There were way too many possibilities, and my brain started going through every single one. I got up and created a first aid kit out of what I had. Which, to be fair, had quite a bit. I was able to fill an entire duffle bag with gauze, antibiotic cream, antidiarrheals, antiemetics, and of course, an inflatable ambu. I went early to set up, just to see if there was an AED on site.

 There’s a lot of instances when I tend to look at situations from the perspective of a nurse. I know how easy it is to fall, to sprain an ankle, to get food poisoning or to cut yourself. Whenever I travel, or whenever I’m in a group of people, I always think about what I would do if something were to happen.

I’m grateful that I’m able to use my skills to help other people, and that I can assist in an emergency. But I’m even more grateful when those emergencies don’t occur.

Why I Plot

I spend most of my year excited for November. Dreaming about November. Anticipating November. Because of the time I spend thinking about it, I also plan for November. In fact, I consider myself an obsessive planner.

I’ll work on my characters, and my character bios. I know their fears, their dreams, their goals, and their background stories. I plan my setting, draw out maps, name all of the places they frequent, just in case it comes up. I outline, and then I outline, then I outline again. I usually have about three outlines, each one expanding on the previous.

Why is this important?

Last month, I was able to write three different books in thirty days. I was able to start and throw out scene after scene, and it was because of my extensive planning. This year, I decided to go a step further and do a scene by scene plan. I’ve always had a detailed outline, but sometimes a section would last three or four scenes, and sometimes just one. I didn’t know whose point of view it would be in, and sometimes, I would get stuck just because I didn’t know how to transition from one scene to the next.

So this year, I decided to take my outline and turn it into a scene by scene. I used a spreadsheet for this one, numbered each scene, and then wrote who the point of view character was and exactly what was supposed to happen.

After that, I went to Scrivener, put that many scenes into the novel, and then wrote the scene synopsis as the title, and the detailed outline points in the notes section.

By the time November came, all I had to do was open Scrivener, start at scene one, read the outline of what should happen and write it. When I finished, the next scene was already set up for me.

It’s a lot of work, but the payoff is worth it. I love being an obsessive planner, because it means that I’m able to achieve my goals. 

PlOctoWriMo

Last month, my NaNoWriMo group decided to try something new. We called it PlOctoWriMo. As in Plotting in October Writing Month. We used the article from The Write Life, by Janice Hardy on a 4 week success plan for NaNoWriMo. Read the article here.

We took her ideas and broke them down into different days. Some weeks, we had three different assignments, and some weeks, we only had two. It was so fun to have a mapped out plan on how to plan our novel. Over the years, while doing NaNoWriMo, I’ve found that the more I plan, and the more intricate my writing bible is, the better I write. Not only do I write faster, I’m also able to write more at a time, and I wanted to share that success with our region.

We had two different planning sessions through the month, added to our kickoff, and we had an awesome turnout. We also had a lot more activity online, with many of our participants asking for brainstorming help, and we always were able to help them through their roadblock. Which means they’ve already planned for it before they even got to it.

One of our planning sessions

I know there are pantsers out there, but when it comes to writing a novel in 30 days, I feel like planning is the best way to do it. During our Writers Conference, I actually sat down with J Scott Savage and asked him how long it takes him to write a novel. He said that he takes about 6 weeks to write his first draft. When I told him that last year, I wrote two books in my series during November, he already knew that I was a planner. He didn’t even have to ask.

How about the rest of you? Planners out there? Pantsers?

Act, Don’t Think

This past year has been a whirlwind for me. Last year, I made the decision to make writing a priority in my life. Since that decision, I’ve thrown myself into not just my writing, but also different writing groups in the area.

I’ve loved to get to know other writers in the area, and even those online. There’s a different kind of energy when you’re part of a community, rather than writing alone. But there is one thing that I’ve noticed. There seems to be two kinds of writers out there.

Those that write, and those that talk about writing.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the ideas. To think about the illusion of being a writer, and to create something out of nothing. Here’s the thing about creating. It’s hard work. Not just hard work, but grueling, exhausting, tedious work. It’s never ending. There’s the planning, and the actual writing, and then you’re stuck with months and months, and possibly even years of revision. It’s so easy to cut corners. To not revise as much as it really needs. One round of edits, right?

I’m one of those obsessive kind of planners who has to know exactly what’s going on. In the writing group that my Co-ML and I lead, we work really well together. We knew our theme for this year by the beginning of December last year. We started preparations as early as January and February. We bounce ideas off one another, but that’s not where it stops. We push one another to actually act on our ideas.

The best writing partner anyone could ever ask for!

We assign one another different responsibilities. I work on one part, and she works on another. We come together to always move forward, instead of dwelling on our dreams. We make them a reality. Whether it has to do with our own personal writing goals, our group goals, or even random, silly things like a music video, we don’t just dream.

We do.

Having a Plan

Because I have a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, I’ve been in various management positions over the years. I’ve learned about the importance of having a business plan, of having short and long term goals, and keeping yourself responsible if you don’t make those goals.

Last year, I made the decision to treat my writing like a job. I wasn’t going to treat it like a hobby anymore, writing when I wanted to, or if I wanted to. I was going to have a plan, with long term and short term goals. That was in October.

My long term goals:

Focus on publishing.

Write more.

Then I created short term goals to accomplish those. In fact, I made a schedule for myself, one that I was going to stick to. In the month of October, I was going to outline for NaNoWriMo. In November, obviously I was going to write Book 1 of a brand new story I’d come up with. I told myself to spend at least 2-3 hours a day on writing.

When I first started, I didn’t think I’d be able to do 2-3 hours’ worth of planning in the month of November. Boy, was I wrong! Giving myself a time limit, as well as a plan gave me the chance to explore this world in a way I never imagined possible. I knew my characters inside and out, I knew the setting, and I had a very detailed outline. With it, I wrote book 1 in 14 days. In the next 14, I wrote book 2, which I wasn’t even expecting to do.

In December, I sat down and planned out the rest of the year.

December 10-February 15th. Rewrite Book 1 (I figured giving myself two months would be enough.)

February 16-March 30th – Rewrite Book 2 and send out to betas. (I was a little more ambitious, since I only gave myself a month and a half)

April – second revision of Book 1 during Camp NaNoWriMo (I figured that this wouldn’t be as extensive of a revision, so it wouldn’t need as much time)

May-June – Rewrite Book 2.

July – final revision of Book 1, fine tuning, send out to betas again

August – start sending out Queries of book 1

September – (didn’t have a plan for September)

October – Prepare for NaNoWriMo

November – Write Book 3

I love having a plan, and knowing what I need to focus on. Obviously, I haven’t followed it completely. I finished revisions of Book 1 by January 30^th, which meant I started revisions on book 2 much sooner than expected. Also, in May, instead of editing book 2, I ended up doing a cut edit of book 1, and polishing it so that I was ready to send it out to agents. By that point, I’d already sent it to two rounds of betas, as well as critters on Scribophile. In June, I started sending out queries and working on outlining for book 3 and preparing book 2 for CampNaNoWriMo in July.

Since November 1, I’ve written or edited 640,181 words. I’ve done three revisions of Book 1, and two of book 2. I have a clear outline of book 3, and I’ve even started outlining an unrelated book, which I hope to write in November, along with book 3.

The year before, I’d written one first draft, and done three revisions on different novels. I’ve already exceeded that, and we’re not even back to November.

Having a plan works as long as you keep yourself responsible. I don’t use a lot of rewards, but I’m the kind of person that needs to keep to a schedule, even if it’s self imposed. 

Collaboration

One of the things that I’ve come to love over the past few years is having a strong writing group. Having other people who understand what I go through makes me continue to work at the craft, no matter how hard it gets. They also challenge me to try new things, ones that I might not have tried otherwise.

Recently, I started a brand new project, one that’s definitely unique to my writing experience. I’m working on a collaborative effort. Five of us have come together, created our own characters, and have started plotting the world within we want to create our story. We’re a guinea pig group for a publishing company, experimenting with whether or not writing together, and critiquing our writing as we go can help us as writers.

I’ve got to say, it’s a whole different beast. There’s a lot of compromise, and a lot of discussion that goes into it. I can’t control what kind of characters they have, just like they can’t tell me what kind of character I have. We went into this without any idea of what we’re doing, and I’ve got to say…

I’m really having fun with it. Yes, there’s misunderstandings, different things that I would like to change, but I’m happy with the results we’ve got so far. Plus, the amazing thing about having all of our backgrounds in the story means that it’s diverse without even meaning to be. We have characters from across the world, as well as from the US. We have different motivations, different reactions to just about everything we’re going to throw at them.

The one thing about collaborating with someone else is that we have to plan a lot. We have to know what direction we’re going in, and the rules that each of our characters have to follow. And we have to make sure that we’re communicating our thoughts effectively with one another so that we’re all on the same page.

I hope to let you know when this is ready to read! It’s definitely fun to work on!

Falling In Love

I love writing. I love all of the parts. The outlining and the planning is my favorite when I’m doing it. Then I write my first draft and that’s my favorite. And of course, I can’t forget revising and editing. That’s the best ever.

I know I’m very fortunate when it comes to writing and loving all of the parts. Editing doesn’t always give people warm fuzzies. But no matter which part of the writing process is your favorite or not, it’s always important to love what you write. I know that I’ll get a shiny new idea and get excited about it, but as I start to plan and outline, the excitement wanes. I’ve had that happen several times, and to be honest, those books doesn’t get edited. They don’t always get written.

I need to be in love with my story, and with my characters. I had a conversation with one of my writing partners recently about how writing is like falling in love. It’s easy to fall for those warm tingles and excited butterflies, but that’s just the first part. Writing is a relationship, you with the novel, from start to finish. From idea to revised and edited novel. If you aren’t’ in love, then you won’t be there for the long haul.

The good news is that there’s always a new idea, and the chance to fall in love again. Let’s be honest, I’m not very monogamous when it comes to my novels. So far I’ve written seven start to finish, and I’m in the process of planning two more. I hope to write them both by the end of the year.

I love the feeling when I’m reading through, revising, and I hit a passage or a scene that just makes me erupt with butterflies because it’s something that speaks to me. It’s what I want to read, which is why I write it.

I hope everyone can fall in love with their own writing.

And Then I Saw Her Face… Now I’m A Believer…

In the past, I’ve never really cared for character interviews. I couldn’t understand how knowing my character’s favorite food would help me know the deeper part of them. I focused more on what was the most influential moment(s) in their life and how did they react to that situation.

It was a good starting place, but I’ve since learned that it’s not everything.

For Commissioned, I decided to give character interviews a chance. At least try them out. When I got to questions like: What’s their favorite music, I still rolled my eyes. Does it matter? They’re living in a fantasy world with Asian influence. But since I’d decided to try it, I made up music they liked. 

Turns out, one of my characters played the flute… and that ended up becoming a major plot point in the story. I just hadn’t realized it yet.

It was helpful, but I didn’t realize how helpful until this week. After finishing revisions on Commissioned, I’ve been going through book 2, trying to figure out what went wrong. It took a few days, but I realized I was missing a vital character. So I did the same thing as before. I found a picture on Pinterest to give me inspiration and started the character interview.

Halfway through, I got to the question: What are her religious beliefs?

Character interview with Tsetseg Manda

The answer blew me away. I knew I was missing a major part of the climax to the third book, and she’s it. She’s the fodder that builds the emotional conflict for one of my characters. I just hadn’t realized it yet. And if I hadn’t done the character interview, I’m not sure I would have ever known.

So yes, I’m definitely converted! Character interviews make the character more than one dimensional, and even when the questions seem pointless or superficial, the answers may not be.

Post NaNoWriMo

It’s December 7^th, which means that NaNoWriMo has been over for a full week now.

It’s been a long week. It doesn’t help that I did push myself way too hard the last week of November, between picking up extra shifts at work, hosting 3 write-ins and getting together with family the other spare moments I had.

Not that I would have changed any of it…

But last week, I did take a full 3 days off and relaxed. I cleaned, did laundry, FINALLY put up the Christmas tree. I’m the kind of person that pesters her husband into putting up Christmas decorations starting the beginning of November. This year, I was so busy that I didn’t even think about it until December 3^rd.

But I know that it’s not safe to spend too much time away from my writing. I’ve spent the past 30 days creating a habit. Habits are easier to break than make. Fortunately, I have awesome writing friends, and we’ve grown even closer this NaNoWriMo. My Co-ML and I have decided to get together twice a week to keep writing. Plus, I know how much better I work under pressure, so I’m creating my own goals and schedule for her to use to monitor me.

I’ll keep her going too.

So what’s my current goal? Since I finished Commissioned on November 15^th, I felt like enough time had passed for me to start a revision. I did a quick read through on Friday and Saturday so that I could get an idea of what needed to be fixed.

Honestly, it’s a few minor things here and there (add setting, flesh out characters), but nothing like previous novels. I’m not having to delete sections or add entire plot twists. Obsessive planning and plotting have their benefits! I’m hoping to finish this revision by LTUE, my first official writer’s conference! I’m going with a few friends from my NaNoWriMo group, and I’m super excited.

Those are my goals for now! How about the rest of you? How are you doing post NaNoWriMo craze?

Trying Something New

Every year, I try and find a new way to challenge myself as a writer. This year, I wanted to try to write in first person. All of the other books that I’ve written have been in third person, except for the very first draft of Servant of an Empire. The reason I changed to third person was because it felt like every sentence started with the word I. It reminds me of the scene in Princess Diaries where she talks about how many stinkin’ times she uses the word ‘I.’

I was really nervous, especially since all my attempts at practicing it weren’t going so well. But I’d also spent much more time trying to get into my characters’ heads, so that I can really understand how they think, so that I can imitate the way they talk.

So the first day of NaNoWriMo, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. In fact, I was expecting to crash and burn. If not, the best case scenario would be a wooden, I-riddled first draft.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was I able to figure out a way to avoid the dreaded ‘I’, but I was also able to make clear and distinct voices. Or rather, Yaru and Nara were able to let their voices flow.

Remember, these are just first drafts, but here’s the difference:

The man huffed, slashing the sword from side to side, almost burying the blade into the wooden crate. If this idiot puts even a nick in the surface, I’d made him eat the Vor through his nostrils. “Not worth it,” he said. His voice was gruff, like sandpaper against stone, and his thick lips sneered down at me.

The parade stops as the monks congregate around the holy links, seeking the word of Gal. I snort. They should know better than to think that Gal would spend any time in this place. With the dust layering every building, and the stench of livestock, if I were a creator, I’d steer clear from this place. I’d probably spend my days floating across the sea’s foam or in the air, tumbling like… I don’t know, some kind of tumbling thing. A bird maybe.

I love both of them, but what I particularly love is how distinct they feel. I know which one is Yaru and which one is Nara. Now I’m excited to see how the rest of it develops.

How about the rest of you? How are your novels coming along?

Character Bios

I’ve been waiting for so long for November to start. To get myself through October, without starting any new projects, I’ve been working on prewriting. To say that I’ve done more for this book than any other would be an understatement. My Bible is filled. Background stories, setting, culture, maps, outlines, and yes, character bios.

When creating a character, I usually say that all I need to know is the most important event in their life so far and how it affected the character. I usually steered clear from the character questions and interviews because I never thought they were that relevant. I mean, I have characters living in a fantasy world trying to survive. Who cares what their favorite color is, right?

But since I have so much time, I figured I would actually try them out and see what happened. I went through multiple questions and picked the ones that I thought would apply the most to my characters, and yes, I left the question about favorite color in there. There were times that I really got stumped.

What kind of music does my character like to listen to? I have no idea.

What time do they go to bed or wake up? Does it matter?

Apparently, it does. I found out that one of my character loves to go stargazing, which means he stays up late to look at stars. I have another character who like silence, no noise, no music. Things I would not have known if I’d just focused on the most important aspect of their lives.

It doesn’t feel like I’ve gotten everything about the characters figured out, but there are small details that separates them from all of the other characters. It’s not a replacement, but I will definitely be using it in the future.

What do you do to build your characters? How do you get their backgrounds and personalities figured out?

NaNoWriMo Prep

I love autumn. It’s my favorite time of year, the anticipation for Halloween, and Thanksgiving, then Christmas. It’s the time that people start gathering indoors, drinking hot chocolate and snuggling up in blankets.

Recently, there’s one more thing to add to the anticipation, and that’s NaNoWriMo. It’s my favorite month of the year now, and preparation sometimes takes up an entire month as well.

Every year, I try and do something different. I try and push myself into doing something that I haven’t necessarily tried before. My first year, I wrote from the point of view of a male main character. Last year, I wrote a contemporary about a middle-aged woman dealing with her father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Every year, I learn something new about myself as a writer, and about writing in general.

This year, I’m trying to write a series. Not just one book, but the beginning of a story, one that ends with a cliffhanger and everything. The preparation for this one has been brutal.

I’m a planner, and I have to know where I’m going. When I’m planning a series, it’s not just about this book, it’s about the entire story arch, so that when I start, I know what I need to add in the beginning to make the ending fit. When the ending’s three books away, that can be kind of daunting.

The only thing that gets me through this is outlining. My outlining process hasn’t changed too much over the past few years. It really depends on time, if I’m crunched, I might do a general outline, but when I really want to sit down and do it right, I go through a 3-4 step outlining process.

All of my outlining is handwritten. I feel much closer to my creative juices when I can use more than just my fingers on a keyboard. I start with notecards, writing down the basic plotlines that I hope to skip through. Once I finish those, I flip them over and add more detail to those specific plot points.

Step 1

Then I type it all up and add triple spacing, and print it out. That’s when I either do two or three more drafts. Since I’m crunching on time, I suspect I’ll only get one draft finished, but that’s okay. It’s the same basic idea. I take the outline that’s printed out, and I add even more plot points to it, more explanations as to why it’s important.

Step 2

Then I type it up.

Step 3

Since this is a trilogy, and since November is fast approaching, I’m actually doing all three processes at once. I’m trying to get all of my basic plotlines (the green draft) finished before November starts. Then I’m trying to get at least half of the back of the notecards (the yellow draft) finished so that I have the basic idea of at least where the next book is going.

And then I’m trying to do the fine detailed outline (pink draft) for this book.

How about the rest of you? What kind of preparation are you making for your NaNoWriMo novel?

Storyteller's Symposium

Last weekend, I was able to attend the first ever Storyteller’s Symposium in our little town. It was a fantastic event, and I was very impressed by the number of would be artists that appeared. What I really hadn’t expected was that the storytellers included all facets, including photography, writing, film, and everything in between.

 What I loved was that even though I’d heard most of the advice already, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t something new for me to learn. For the majority of the month, I’ve been working on prewriting and preparing for NaNoWriMo, which means that I’m going back to the beginning. It’s been a year since I’ve started a first draft, and I feel like I’m relearning and revising how I start out a novel.

Probably what makes this ‘novel’ so difficult is that it isn’t a novel. It’s shaping up to be a series, which means that there’s even more plot points, even more characters, and even more planning so that the story arch follows a clear trajectory from start to finish. I’d gotten about two thirds of the way through the rough outline when I got stuck. I needed a large and satisfying climax, but I still wasn’t sure who my actual antagonist was. Or if the two potentials were working together.

During the symposium, I was thinking about this issue, and there was one lesson that really stood out to me. One of the presenters talked about the Dramatic Structure, the need to have a clear protagonist and a clear antagonist, and to have the two confront one another during the climax. He also mentioned that if there are two protagonists, then they both need to be present during the conflict.

You’d think that would be obvious, but every single climax I’d run through hadn’t included one of my characters. She was just as important as the other, but somehow, I hadn’t thought to make sure she had a clear reason to be there as well.

Once I figured out that both protagonists needed to be present, the dynamics changed, and the plot opened up again.

How’s your prewriting going? Ready for November?

Plot, Character and Setting

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been gearing up for NaNoWriMo. Every year, I try and do something a little bit different, something to push me to try something new.

Last year, I wrote my first modern day novel with no fantasy, just actual family relations and dealing with the disease of Alzheimer’s. It was a learning experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. To see what I learned from that novel, check out the link here.

This year, when I started thinking about NaNoWriMo, back in April, I didn’t quite have a story in mind. I used Camp NaNoWriMo to create characters, hoping that at some point, one of them would jump out to me and ask me to write their story. Fortunately, even though it was a frustrating month (possibly because I don’t like spending a lot of time with strangers), I did have two characters whose stories started to meld together.

Last month, I started plotting out the story. It was exciting, the more I plotted, the more I learned about the story. It’s the closest I’ve come to pantsing. I’m not actually writing, but I’m letting the story flow out. The more I wrote, the more I learned about the world, about the situations the characters were in, about the setting. Unfortunately, I kept hitting walls. Moments when I didn’t know where the story was going.

This week, I put aside plotting and character development. I started working on the setting. Getting to know the world my characters were living in. I had to determine how different organizations work, both of my characters are deeply involved in their own systems, and apparently, the plot wouldn’t move forward unless I understood the setting.

Writing out the rules to the magic system

As I continued to build the setting, I suddenly understood my characters so much better. Once I understand their world, I was able to understand their thoughts, their reactions, and their motives. It’s amazing how plot, character, and setting are all so intertwined.

What preparations are you making for NaNoWriMo?

Insignificant Scenes

My neighbors have recently introduced me to the Marvel Universe. We’ve been working through all of the movies one by one, and I’ve loved it. One of things that has really amazed me is the story telling. Joss really doesn’t have a single insignificant scene.

It may not seem that way, there are random scenes that seem to pull out of the story, or reduce the tension, but every single scene is absolutely important to the scene.

We were watching Thor: The Dark World the other night, and there’s a scene where they spend several minutes dropping bottles, shoes and cans down a vortex that takes them to a completely different world. At the end of the scene, the intern drops their car keys down. It’s a hilarious scene, and the first time I watched it, that’s all I thought it was. A way to diffuse the tension, build comedy. But the second time I watched it, I realized there was a very important purpose to this insignificant scene.

Near the end of the movie, two of the characters are stranded. They have no way out, and then they find a vortex. One of the characters automatically knows that this vortex leads into her world. How? She sees cans and bottles… then shoes… and finally her keys. It’s a way to clue the audience into the significance of this one particular vortex, and where it leads. Otherwise, the audience might cry foul when they magically appear exactly where they want to go.

This is just one of the many, many examples found in the new Marvel movies. Every single scene, no matter how insignificant has a very vital part of the story.

When writing, I like to use Scrivener so that I can separate my scenes and figure out where I am. After watching the Marvel Movies, I’ve decided to go back through each scene and write the purpose. How does it move the story forward, and is it vital to the story?

How do you make sure that your stories don’t have non-vital fluff?

What’s In a Name?

I’ve been having a bit of a dilemma recently. At work, there’s a guy who’s been calling me Tiffany since we first met. Now, I would have corrected him, but at first, he would mumble “Hi Tiffany” while passing me in the hall, and usually, by the time I realize what he’s said, he’s already turned the corner. This went on for several weeks, and it’s not like I can correct him before he even greets me.

So basically, it’s been two or three months since he started calling me Tiffany, and by now, I just feel weird saying anything. Plus, I know he’s talking to me, so does it matter?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, whether a name fits a person or not.

And as a writer, it’s even more important than in real life. Because when you have three characters named Andy, Andrea and Andre, it might get a little confusing. In fact, I had a beta tell me that all of my characters have two syllable names. Something I’ve never actually realized.

When I first started writing The Orphans of Jadox, I had three separate characters. I spent time and energy naming them, and I liked all of their names. When I started writing, when I finally got to a scene with all of them in it, I realized that their names are just too similar: Aydra, Emera, Emdra. It was the third one that really tied them together. So once I changed that, Aydra, Emera and Shara, it didn’t feel like I had Huey, Dewey, and Louie on the page.

Then when I was working on The King’s Councilor, I realized that all of my character’s names started with a C or a K: Cassie, Karvid, Kelso.

Now, when I’m planning a story, I write all my characters down next to each other so that I can double check what they look like together.

What kind of name traps do you find when you write?

Camp Update

Two weeks ago, I was very positive about my camp goals.  500 word character bios? Easy!

Well, not so much.

Turns out, I get frustrated when I start to connect with a character, and then after 500 words, I have to say goodbye. Not necessarily a farewell forever, but enough that it’s starting to become a roadblock.  I don’t want to write the character bios because I don’t want to have to start all over again. I don’t want to have to stop.

That’s not a good thing. When my goals keep me from writing, I know that I’m not doing this right. I’ve written about eleven bios so far, but last week, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. The characters are starting to jump into one another’s bios.

As of now, I have two separate stories starting to develop, with characters finding common ground, and more importantly, common goals. There’s a few oddball characters that don’t fit, but I’m hoping that at some point, I figure out what their stories are. That way, I have more characters, more stories, and more writing to do!

I’m excited to see how the plots develop, especially since now I have the beginning stages of stories started. Maybe I’ll finish characters this week and start looking at plots.

It’s been an interesting experiment, trying to find ways to increase my productivity, and although I did run into a wall several times this month, I’m starting to see the results. Hopefully now I’ll have a new project for July’s Camp and for NaNoWriMo in November.

How about the rest of you? Any tips on promoting productivity?

I'm Still Alive!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  February was a busy month. 

I finally got through the roadblock in The King’s Councilor and the words started flowing.  Every spare moment I had, I worked on the revisions, and yesterday, I finally finished the draft.

I think I’ve learned more from this novel than I have from any of the other ones I wrote.  When I started Cassie’s story, I attempted to write without an outline, to follow the characters’ path as they moved.  Unfortunately, what I ended up with was a tangled mess.  I went through and figured out what didn’t work in the current plot, then rewrote it.  After that, I had critiquers go through it and tear it apart. 

I ended up scrapping about 70% of the previous draft, and I expanded it from 65,000 words to 80,000.  I’m really pleased with the changes that I made, but now that I’ve finished, I know there’s still a few more things I need to fix.  

But before I do that, it’s time to let it sit for a little bit.  I have a fantastic beta going through it as we speak. 

The question is: What now?

My NaNoWriMo group is going to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo in April, which gives me 25 days before the craziness begins.  Not really enough time to start another project, but I don’t want to sit back and wait the whole time either.

I also have to figure out what I’m going to do for April. 

That’s it for me!  What are the rest of you up to?

Spending Quality Time with the People in My Head

Last week, after finishing my NaNoWriMo novel, I decided to celebrate by reading a book.  I’m a little bit behind on my goal of reading 1 book a week, but I’d decided to focus on finishing writing first.  I’d had the Winner’s Curse on my reading list for a few months, so I picked that up and started to read.

Here’s what I love about reading.  It wakes up my imagination.  I see how other writers do it and I think, “Oh yeah!  This is why I decided to become a writer!”  Even if it has nothing to do with what I’m working on, it always gives me new ideas and makes me want to write more.  For those who don’t believe that writing and reading go hand in hand, I’ve got to say: it does for me.

After I finished (Which, by the way, I hate cliffhangers!  Especially when the next book isn’t out yet.) I started thinking about my next project.  Last year, I was working on my second revision of The King’s Councilor, after getting it torn apart by some awesome betas.  I’d spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the beginning more exciting.  One of the chief complaints was that it was repetitive, and believe me, that’s not what I want in my writing.  I sat down with one of my good online friends and brainstormed.

Back to the drawing board

I wrote the first eight chapters and had her reread it for me.  Before I could keep going, NaNoWriMo came, and I wanted to start a new one for the occasion.

I was also a little stuck.  Now that the first eight chapters had changed so drastically, I wasn’t sure that I liked the direction the rest of the book was taking, so I’d probably been using NaNoWriMo as an excuse to procrastinate figuring out the rest of the novel.

But last week, after reading the Winner’s Curse, the ideas started pouring.  They had nothing to do with the book, but the creativity caused by reading was enough to get the juices flowing.  Saturday, I deep cleaned the house.  I needed something to do while the people in my head talked to me.  I’ve learned that when they talk, I’d better stop and listen.

The longer they talked, the more I realized that they knew what needed to happen in their story.  I know it sounds crazy, but when I let them take charge (not while writing, but in planning) I always come up with a better story. 

This week’s been a little chaotic, but I’ve still written about 3,000 words starting from where I left off. 

Do any of you use the people in your head as a muse?  Am I the only one?