Category: writing

The Sky Is Falling

I’ve read in a couple of places that one of the most annoying questions asked of writers is “Where do you get your ideas?” Frankly, hearing other writers’ answers to that question is fascinating. I mean, who wouldn‘t want to know where Stephen King gets his ideas? (I mean, where does he come up with some of this stuff? Of course, I’m eagerly anticipating the release of his new novel. Every time I read one and scare myself silly, I swear I won’t ever read another one. And yet, every time, I simply HAVE to.) But, having only a vague idea of where my own story ideas come from, I know why this question is so frustrating to writers. Because, really, who wants to hear “I don’t know” in response to this question? Precisely no one. But it’s hard to put such a nebulous concept into words.

For example: At least three of my story ideas (with complete drafts done) have come from dreams I had. One of these is Witches. One of these is Through Shadowed Stone. After I started researching Heart of the Sea, but before I started writing it, I had a dream about the story, where I was actually Nerina running through the forest. As for the others, well, sometimes they just seem to fall out of the sky. And sometimes…they come from a place a little bit more earthly.

With NaNo looming on the horizon, I’m been mulling over ideas for this year’s story. I’ve known what it’s going to be about (basically) since before LAST NaNo, but now some of the details are coming clear. It’s going to be urban fantasy, probably with a lot of comedy and a mystery aspect (how’s that for convoluted?). The MC is an elf, and her best friend/sidekick is a fairy. It’s set in New Orleans, of course. What better place to research? A couple of weeks ago, some friends of mine were in town for their first visit here. Naturally, I had to take them to the French Quarter. As strange as some of the things you can see there are, it’s easy for me to believe something paranormal could be going on at any time. So, I’d like to say a big thank you to the 300-pound man wearing a green halter top and long green skirt, with Mimi-esque makeup (a la The Drew Carey Show), and dancing, literally, to the beat of music only he could hear. You’ve given me a wonderful idea for the fairies in my story and how they derive their power. You also deserve a thank-you for the laugh I got while watching the expressions on my friends’ faces when they saw you. (And one of said friends is the basis for the MC in this story, too. She’s the most accident-prone person EVER.) And also? The Red Dress Run, which I witnessed two weeks before that, will also be making an appearance in this story. Men in dresses are not that unusual in the Quarter. Approximately 400 men in red dresses wearing competitors’ numbers IS a teensy bit strange. (And honestly, the explanation is quite funny and still strange.) You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a sight like that. So, thanks to all those men in red dresses as well.

So, yeah. THAT’S where story ideas come from: out of the clear, blue sky.

Done!

With this draft of Witches. Finally. It comes in at 188k. Which, considering the original draft was 297k, doesn’t sound so bad. I know I need to cut quite a bit more, but right now, I’m letting it sit and breathe. I’m hoping to do a novel swap with it, but I’m not in any great hurry. It’s also going through my crit group, and I have no intentions of subbing it anytime soon.

Now that this draft of Witches is done, I can work on some other things. Like finishing the sequel, which is probably about 2/3rds done. And considering I haven’t written anything new in over a month, that should be interesting, getting back into the swing of things.

I’m also working on my query letter for the 2YN story. I hate writing queries, but I’m determined to come up with a good one for this story. I also plan on going through the MS one more time to make sure everything’s cleaned up and pretty, then I’m going to start subbing it. Nervous about that, but it’s time that story left the nest.

But for now, let me just say again: I’m DONE!

Standing On The Edge

I’ve been editing Witches like mad for the past two months. Mad, I tell you. Until some days I just wanted to strangle my characters, or merely use some transparent act of God to kill them all off at once so they wouldn’t make my head hurt anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I love this story. Love it. However, it’s been running around in my brain, in some form or another, for almost ten years. That hurts just to type those words. Ten. Years. So, I think I can be forgiven for getting a little tired of the story. Only occasionally, mind you, as I haven’t been working on it continuously for ten years. Far from it. The original first draft ended at around 297,000 words. Yes. Far too long. The second draft was about 50k shorter. I’ve mostly finished the current editing pass, and it’s sitting at 197k. So, all in all, I’ve cut 100k from the story. Yeah. I’ve cut, in essence, an entire book from this story, and I know I still need to cut at least 50k. I have about eight more chapters to re-visit, all of which I marked in my notes as possible cuts. When I finish that, I’m going to put this story aside for a while and let it breath.

But you know what? I still love these characters. They don’t bore me. They pop into my head at unexpected moments. I still can’t wait to see what happens to them. I think that’s a good sign. Heck, a lot of the real people I know have more than started to bore me after I knew them for ten years. But not my characters. So up next, when I finish the little bit of clean-up I have left on this draft, I’m going to finish writing the sequel to Witches. And I know, the draft of that story won’t be anywhere near as long as the first draft of Witches.

All in all, I’ll be happy to put Witches aside. For now.

Why, No, I Don’t Have A Life Outside Of Writing (Why Do You Ask)?

And the results for the first week of June are….Success! Well, partial success, anyway. I hit all my word count goals for the week, in all four stories. The zombie story is going, and that’s about all I can say about that. The sequel to Witches is coming along quite well, and staying mostly true to the outline. The werewolf story is flowing very well, and I have the next two or three scenes outlined (and by “outlined”, I mean I have one sentence for each scene). I started writing the sequel to the 2YN story this weekend. It’s flying along surprisingly well, especially considering I outlined the first two chapters only, and hey, finished those this weekend. Looks like there’s some more outlining in my near future…

The editing? Didn’t go so well. I did get about five chapters edited in Witches. Sigh. It needs a lot of editing. Right now, I’m going through back crits from SG, and seeing what I agree with. Most of the crits are spot-on, and the changes make the story much stronger. So, now all I have to do is follow up with those changes through the rest of the story. Didn’t even get started editing Tempest, but I’ll catch up on that. I’m going to try to re-do the outline for that story before I edit, to help keep me in line. Here are my approximate word counts for the week:

Zombie story: 1,500
Werewolf story: 5,500
Witches sequel: 4,000
2YN sequel: 5,500
Editing: 10,000

May Madness

I knew at the beginning of the year when I set my personal goals that I was being overly ambitions. But it seemed doable. It still seems doable, although my brain does not seem to share my belief. For the last two weeks, I’ve written nothing. Nada. Zilch. On the upside, I did get the 2YN story edited. Again. And I’m happier with this draft. Hoping to start sending it out soon. It’s now tentatively titled Charming Dragons. I wrote about 37,000 words in the first two weeks of the month, so May wasn’t a total bust, but I’d hoped to finish the draft of the Witches sequel this month, and that didn’t happen. It didn’t even come close to happening.

However, I do have a spiffy new plan to finish writing the three stories I’m currently working on (zombie story, Witches sequel, werewolf story), by the end of August, along with the sequel to Charming Dragons. And edit Witches AND Tempest of Angels. So, clearly I haven’t passed the overly-ambitious part of the year yet. 🙂 I do have set word count goals every day, and certain days to work on certain stories. I’m hoping the juggling act will keep me from burning out on any one story. At least, that’s the plan.

Now I’m off to brainstorm the new story. Wish me luck!

The Werewolves are Winning

I’ve been really bad about keeping this blog updated lately. Sorry. On the up side, I have been getting a lot of writing done. A lot. I’m a little over 50k into the sequel to Witches. That’s flowing along pretty well, and the action is heating up. I’m being mean to Bali at the moment, but hey, somebody’s gotta do it, right? She’ll thank me later, when everything blows over. (Probably.)

I’ve been busy killing zombies, too. Being as gross as possible is pretty cool. And I’ve actually really enjoyed writing two military men characters. Most of my characters are normally fairly clean-mouthed. But not Sammy and Luke. Not in this chapter, anyway. But what can you expect when you’re under attack by hordes of flesh-craving zombies? They’re very persistent, I’ll give them that. Sammy, as usual, provides a shot of humor to even the direst situation. I’ll be sorry to finish writing him…

Not to mention getting to know Chance’s new high school in the Werewolf story. Can I just say that she has a really crappy first day at her new school? It’s great, really. For me. Not for her. (She’d probably hate me, and rightly so.) She is so much fun to write. Clearly, I haven’t progressed much (mentally) past my high school days. Or so it seems when I sit down to write her. She practically jumps through the keyboard and onto the page, full of snarky comments and attitude (not to mention her to-die-for wardrobe). Her new friend Benjy has really surprised me, too. I had no idea he was going to turn out quite like he has. Actually, even though the sequel to Witches is coming along so well, and I’m enjoying the zombie story, too, my Muse is itching to play in Chance’s world almost exclusively. I know discipline is good for a writer, but it seems like I get my pages done for Chance in a split second, and sometimes, it’s a whole lot harder to hit my goals on the other stories. I think I’m going to have to devote one day a week completely to Chance’s story. That should satisfy my Muse, and give her incentive to hit my goals on anything else I’m working on. Sounds like a plan.

I probably won’t post here again until sometime late next week. I’ll be flying to Dallas this Thursday, and then my best friend and I are driving to Tulsa for Conestoga. This year should be interesting. It’s in April instead of July this year, so most of the “regular” writers won’t be there. I’m a little disappointed, but I’m looking at it as an opportunity to find new favorites. After all, I didn’t know most of the regulars when I first went to Conestoga in 2007.

No, I Haven’t Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth…

…Why do you ask? I did go on a trip home to Texas at the end of March for a week, so that kind of knocked me out of my routine. But now I’m getting back into the swing of things, and making significant progress.

I’ve finished up this round of edits for the Atlantis story, now tentatively titled Heart of the Sea. I’ll be looking for beta readers for it soon, but I think this draft is stronger than the last one. I’m a little too close to it at this point to be sure, so only time will tell.

The zombie story is actually coming along quite well. The rest of it is completely figured out and outlined. Yay! I think that’s one thing that sort of held me back when I worked on my chapters: not knowing quite how everything would work out. Roughly twelve chapters left, so maybe three months or so until the first draft is finished. The chapter I’m working on now should be fun, lots of zombie blood and guts!

The werewolf story is actually smoothing out now. I went back and wrote a couple of chapters over the main turning point in Chance’s life. I wanted to get the details of what had happened worked out in my mind, and I wanted to see if my first instinct to start in the other spot was correct. It was, but writing those chapters gave me a much better feel for the story itself and what’s going on. Surprisingly, it’s going well, considering I’m working outline-free.

The sequel to Witches is going very well right now. I’m about 30k in, and the characters, my old friends, are still very much alive and breathing for me. I know where this one is going, and I’m having a lot of fun. It’s good to get back to my oldest set of characters. I’m hoping everything keeps coming together like it has been.

Milestone

Today I started writing the sequel to Witches. I was terrified to touch the keyboard. Terrified. I spent roughly 7 1/2 years working on Witches (Not that it’s done yet. Oh, no. Not by any means.), and it’s my baby. So I’m terribly afraid to mess up its little sister. Even though this story is completely outlined already, and ready to go. I was still scared to start writing.

But when I made myself start, it flowed surprisingly easy. The characters were just there, in my head, right where I left off. Like it hadn’t been two years since I did anything but editing on the story. It was great, really. And unlike last time, I already know all the horrible things I’m going to do to my characters…

A Site to Remember

There are a lot of resources available on the internet to writers. Everything from dictionaries to blogs. One of the best websites I’ve seen for writers is Forward Motion. I’ve been a member there for about three years, although the first year or so I spent basically no time there. Then a friend of mine, Tamara Siler Jones (If you haven’t read her books, you should! She writes forensic murder mysteries in a fantasy setting, and she’s wonderful. You should check out her first book, Ghosts in the Snow.), suggested I look for a crit group on Forward Motion. I was fortunate enough to get accepted to a group, and in the two years I’ve been a member of the group, I’ve learned a tremendous amount. Seriously. I owe that group a huge thank you for how much they’ve helped me grow as a writer.

Forward Motion has pretty much everything you can imagine that a writer might need. Chats (Not that I’ve ever joined one. Chatting isn’t really my thing.) There are message boards for every genre you can imagine, and for anything else you want. Grammar questions. Research topics. A place to rant. A board for keeping track of agent searches. There are dares to do (outlining, word counts). Marathons to compete in. You can find worldbuilding help. Market reports. Even discussions on writing techniques. (And now I feel like I’m trying to sell real estate. See the lovely view from this window…)

Seriously, though, if you’re looking for a great, supportive community for writers, Forward Motion is a place you should check out. Everyone I’ve met there is friendly and helpful, and if they don’t know the answer to something, they can usually point you in the right direction.

On Goals

I think it’s important to set goals in writing. I don’t mean goals like “Write the next Great American Novel”, or anything like that, either. I do have a list of writing goals, some of which I’ve already accomplished, but many more that I hope to. Finishing the first drafts of Witches and Shadows of Stone are both on there, although on the list Shadows is simply called “the nomad story”. There are other stories on the list right now, five to be exact, and I’m actually working on one of them for my 2YN story. But there are other things on the list as well. Like finding an agent and hopefully getting lucky enough to not have to work full-time at the day job. Stuff like that. Those are the big writing goals, as far as I’m concerned. These goals are always in the back of my mind, and they keep me going.

But what really keeps me motivated are the smaller goals, like word count goals. For most of the first draft of Witches, I didn’t have any sort of goals. When I sat down to write, I just wrote until I felt like stopping. Some days I tried to finish up a chapter, but that was as well defined as my goals got. That is possibly the reason it took me so long to finish writing Witches (that and the total lack of an outline). I was a bit better prepared when I started Shadows last year for NaNo. I had a phase outline, and I had set myself the personal goal of 80k words (Yes, for my first NaNo. I can’t help it; I’m a little bit of an overachiever. I’m trying to overcome that!), which came down to 20k a week, or about 2.9k a day. That was a pretty high goal for someone who had never bothered to keep up with word count before. But it went well, and I hit my goal. Some days I didn’t manage to write at all, but there were a couple of days I hit 7.5k, and I was really proud. Seeing the word count go up was enough to keep me motivated, to keep my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard. And that’s the important part, right? That you’re actually writing. It could be crappy first draft material, but you’re writing, and it’s so much easier to fix something that’s actually written than something that’s not.

I’m currently working on my 2YN story. I don’t have a daily word count goal, but my weekly goal is 5k. Now, I type fast, and I have a phase outline for this story, so it shouldn’t be too hard to hit a measly 5k. Sadly, I’ve been behind since the first week. Only four weeks in, and I’ve been behind for a month. Sigh. The good news is, I should be caught up today. I only needed 3k to catch up, and I’ve already done 1k of that, so my numbers should all add up by tonight. Which is good, because I hate being behind. It discourages me, makes it harder for me to work.

I figure if I’m caught up on the writing, maybe that will motivate me to work on the editing. I need to finish this draft of Shadows, but I’ve pretty much lost my thoughts on where I was. And then there’s the looming specter of editing the behemoth that is Witches. So, if anyone has any ideas on how set motivating goals for editing, I’d love to hear them.