Letting the Story Take the Lead

In October, I made my plans for November. I was going to write book one of this series, and so when I was outlining, I did a vague outline for all three books, a fill in the blank outline for the first two, and a detailed outline for book one.

Then November actually came and I finished book one in fourteen days. I didn’t want to stop the momentum, so I moved onto book two with only a slightly less-than-vague outline to go by. This means that as I’m writing, I have to figure out ways to jump from this plot point to the next. As can be expected, the results have been all over the place.

In the past week, I’ve learned more about the belief system of the world, especially concerning death. Apparently, their limbo is called the Yuchbish, and there’s a dragon in there. It kind of blindsided me, but I decided to see where it went. I still have yet to decide if it’s going to stay, but there’s some good scenes in there.

I think the biggest issue that I have is that I’m never quite sure where to proceed next. Obviously it’s not hindering my word count. I’m currently 50,000 words into book two, and hoping to finish it by the end of the month. But I felt like there was an issue with the end of the book. Obviously, it’s the middle book, so the biggest thing to watch for is that the whole book doesn’t become that sagging middle. Yesterday, while driving to work, I had an epiphany. I wasn’t treating it like its own book. I wasn’t focused on having the action move forward, or to having a climax at the end.

Obviously, if it’s a story worth telling, even if it’s in the middle of the series, it needs to have a clear purpose, as well as a clear climax. Something to give the readers some kind of resolution before moving into the next issue and forward in the overarching plot.

Now that I’ve figured out the climax of the book, as well as the conflict, I’m confident that the story and I are now on the same page. Here’s to seven more days! Hope everyone else is doing well!

2 Month Countdown!

Today is September 1^st, which means 2 months until NaNoWriMo!

I am beyond excited. I love the comradery, the way that writers seem to pop out of the woodworks to participate. It’s so much fun to interact with writers of different stages and ages, get to see the whole spectrum from start to finish.

This year, in April, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo. I decided to try to write character bios, one a day, and see what happens. Even though it was a frustrating exercise, I found that I started to have characters with stories that intertwined.

Two of those characters were Gastian and Torina. As I continued to think about their story, it kept growing. The extent of this story started to overwhelm me. There were so many different plot points I wanted to hit, so many quests, and characters that needed to be introduced. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there is a good chance that this won’t be just one book. This might be the first time I write a trilogy/series.

I’ve had this idea for several months now. I would add small pieces here and there, but the enormity of it overwhelmed me, and I was too afraid to try and plot it.

Finally, this week, after talking with my NaNoWriMo group, I decided to just get it done. As much as I love Scrivener, and the computer, I found that I couldn’t plan it out the way I wanted to. So back to pen and paper I went!

I labeled each of the main characters, and where they lived. Then I wrote out each of the ‘quests’ that they would need to complete. Brick wall again. I couldn’t figure out how to get them from one spot to the next. That’s when I drew a map.

It’s amazing how much can be accomplished with a map. Once I had it drawn, everything fell into place. I was able to draw out the plot points on the map, and all I had to do was figure out how they moved from one place to the next.

And when I got stuck, I worked on character development. I found that I was missing a very key character. I absolutely can’t wait to sink my teeth into him! He’s fantastic, and diabolical all at once. I also discovered some things about my main characters that hadn’t shown up in the 500 word character bio.

So far, I’ve only plotted about a third of the story, but the more I plot, the more excited I get. I’m having a hard time sleeping because these characters have taken over my brain.

How about the rest of you? Gearing up for NaNoWriMo? What are you plans for November?

Old Project/New Project

For the past few weeks, I’ve been very unfocused. Not in a bad way, but I haven’t been able to concentrate on one project long enough to really do anything effective.

This last week, I decided to read through the Orphans of Jadox, just for fun. It’s been quite a whole since I’ve really focused on it, almost 2 years, to be exact. Since then I’ve rewritten King’s Councilor three times, and written the Stone Mason and Jen’s story (still unnamed).

As I read through it I had a giant realization. The Orphans of Jadox is written in 2 different points of view: Larzo and Aydra. Yet, as I read, I realized that there was no distinction between voice. I’ve been reading a lot of reviews on different books, and that always seems to be the biggest complaint. If there are two different people, then they should talk differently, think differently.

So two days ago, I separated their points of view. I printed them out separately so that as I can focus on one point of view before moving to the other.  Larzo is a shapeshifter, a cat. He needs to focus on tactile senses: smell, sight, sound. Each small detail is heightened by his senses. Aydra, on the other hand, as I later found out in in The Stone Mason, has mild empathy, which her son inherits. So she focuses on emotions, reactions, feelings of those around her.

Right now, I’m working on Larzo’s point of view. It’s odd, focusing so much on details, the smells, the sounds, but I’m loving it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I’m completely within someone else’s head. It’s quite fun, and now, when I go on my writer’s retreat next week, I have something definite and concrete to work on.

It’s also been quite a while since I’ve printed out my project, and working in a different medium has definitely got my creative juices flowing.

How about the rest of you? What are you working on right now?

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?

Update

Is it September already?

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, life unfortunately got in the way.  I’m hoping that things start to get a little more normal soon. 

The month of August wasn’t very productive in terms of writing.  I might have written 5-6 thousand words total.

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone that wrong without writing, and it’s been a strange experience.   I honestly miss my characters.  I want to know what they’re doing, and what’s going on in their lives.  They really are a part of me, and writing is my way of keeping in touch.

This month, my only goal is to find time every day to write.  I need to get back into the habit.