A Character's Perspective - A Guest Blog

So, This was supposed to go up yesterday, but thanks to some internet issues and an illness on my part, the result was nothing more than a blank blog post that probably had most of you wondering if I had lost my mind.  I haven't, I promise. (Okay, so that might be debatable, but for the purposes of this blog, we're going to go with I haven't.)  Anyway, as you can see, I have another guest blog for you! I'd like to introduce you to:

ABOUT RON HARTMAN

Ron Hartman has had a life-long passion for the written word and is an avid reader. The Prophecy Chronicles are his first written works. Ron graduated from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 2000 and lives in Ottumwa, Iowa with his wife and three children. Read more about Prophecy Foretold, as well as excerpts from the other books in The Prophecy Chronicles series, at www.prophecychronicles.com.

His latest book is The Prophecy Chronicles.

WEBSITE

A Character’s Perspective

For me Prophecy Chronicles: Prophecy Foretold was a labor of love. I could go on and on about the project, but I think I’ll let one of the characters speak for himself. Please let me introduce to you Soren, former captain of the Naphthalian Royal Guard and current leader of the Resistance:


Greetings—or if you prefer, Morning’s Blessings, as is often said in some parts of Enialé. Ron asked me to tell you a little about my world. Well, as I always say, sooner begun, sooner done, so here we go. I was once the captain of the guard for the last king of Naphthali, King Begnauld the Wanderer. Some call him the Fool…yes, well, history iswritten by the victors, isn’t it? He was murdered by Imperialists, but we didn’t know that until later, not until it was too late.

I know what you’re probably thinking: where was I, the captain of his guard? Believe me, if I could change the past I would. His death is a shame I must live with, as well as all that followed. Even the deaths of my own—no. Many apologies, Ron, but I can’t tell that tale.

Suffice it to say, Naphthali burned. Clan turned on clan, division destroying everything Begnauld and his forebears brought together. At times like that the strong devour the weak and we are all left that much smaller for the dark deeds. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Empire attacked when they did. After all, we knew they were watching, waiting…

Imperial armies overran what defense we had left before we even realized they were coming. The streets ran red, and before long an Imperial governor took Begnauld’s seat. He granted our lands to his lackeys and forced those of us that wouldn’t kneel into hiding. Now they rule us with an iron fist, their damned Rule of Ten controlling the people with fear.

I’m done hiding. My friend Thosten and I are making for the Iron Gate now. We hear the Bloody Horde, brave warriors of clan Durmeer, plan to stand and fight. I fear they don’t have the numbers to stand alone, but if we can’t turn them we will join them. I’ve been sharpening my Katareen blade and I’m ready to use it.

The Resistance needs a strong showing, or it may be over for all of us. What choice do we have? There is no Naphthalian that could reunite the clans, not now. The old healer, Westragen, would have us hold out hope for the Stranger…but I’ve heard that tired old Prophecy in a hundred different ports! Who’s to say it’s even meant for Naphthali? Just for argument’s sake, let’s say it is. If the Stranger means to save us, he damn well better get here soon, or there’ll be nothing left to save.

Many apologies, Ron, but I really must go. We fight for honor, for the glory or Naphthali, and we fight for justice!


Oh, sorry, I thought Soren was going to tell us a little more about Naphthali than that. Honor drives him to stand against the Empire, and he’d never abandon a friend as true as Thosten, not when he goes to battle with his kin. Anyway, I guess that does give you one perspective on Naphthali when Prophecy Foretold opens, just when Daniel Marten is drawn from our world into Soren’s. If you pick up the book, I hope you enjoy it! I know Soren would appreciate your support and well wishes. And I’d love to hear what you think! Please stop by www.prophecychronicles.com and drop me a line!

These are dark days for Naphthali. The king has been murdered, the land invaded by the Imperial Army. It will absorb Naphthali into an Empire that stretches across all of Enialé at any cost. The ravaged people cling to an ancient promise, an assurance that a Prophesied savior will come to set them free…

Daniel Martin is trapped in a life that hasn’t gone as expected. His pharmacy is struggling and he is losing all hope of making a difference in his patients’ lives. His family is the one shining light in his disenchanted life, but he is torn from them when an accident draws him to Naphthali. The people need him but Daniel is driven by his need to return to the family he loves. Is he the Prophesied One? Only time will tell as both the Empire and the Resistance battle for Daniel while the fate of Naphthali hangs in the balance…

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE|ROGUE PHOENIX PRESS

Master Manipulators

My favourite characters in books are the ones that seem to be behind everything.  And yet, they never seem to be behind anything.

I realize that sounds contradictory, but anyone that reads a decent amount of books knows what I'm talking about.  They're the characters that you're fairly certain are idiots who have no idea about anything going on, but then turn out to be the ones behind it the entire time.  Where at the end of the book you think 'no freaking you.  Seriously?  You're the one that did that?'

Sometimes, of course, I have to wonder if the author intended that to happen.  Because, as a writer, I've got to tell you: I very rarely am intentionally creating those characters.

On more than one occasion I have started writing a character that I assumed was background, only to have the entire story turn around at the end and I suddenly realize that the character I thought was no one was more important than any other character in the story.

Why am I talking about this?  Normally these sorts of speculation are brought on by one of my own characters.  But, no.  This time it's because of a critique that I gave today.

In the book we've been critiquing, the author has lined up this character who often appears to simply be stumbling through the world, unsure of what he's doing or if he's even heading in the right direction, and yet things tend to work out for him.  Up until this point in the book, I was wavering between him being competent, and everything just being a happy coincidence.

Unfortunately I have a bit of an insider's point of view, as I know exactly who is pulling the strings, but at the same time, I still don't know all of the details.

This past chapter, though, that character finally pulled up his socks and admitted that he was, in fact, competent.  That he wasn't just a puppet whose strings are being pulled, and that he could manipulate at least those closest to him without too much trouble.

It was nice to see.  Because I enjoy those characters (so long as they're not completely evil with no redeeming qualities) he instantly shot up in my regard.  Suddenly he's far less of a character whose chapters I have to suffer through, and much more one that I look forward to reading about.

As for my own writing, manipulators seem to be few and far between.  At least in my current project (Birth) where all I have is a main character whose voice I can't seem to figure out.

But that's another blog post (check back Wednesday...) For now I'm going to impatiently wait until next week when I should get the next chapter in the book I'm critiquing and see where he takes it.

What's your favourite kind of character?  Do you ever wonder if authors do everything in their novels on purpose?

Blood, Sweat and Epiphanies

This year, as I'm sure you all know, I've decided to do all 201 writing exercises in Brian Kiteley's The 3 A.M. Epiphany. (I've been calling them my epiphanies, and you can check them at here)

So far they've been really hard.  Some days I stare at the exercise and think 'What?  I can't do that!  Who can do that?'  I've had stories where I could only use I or me twice in the entire thing.  I've had to write from the POV of someone who told a story that wasn't true.  I've had to write from the perspective an entire family.  I'm telling you, it's been really freaking hard.

Today's assignment is to take an old story that I've written and redo it as a first person perspective.  And, while I'm at it, count how many she's I had and cut that in half.  It's probably one of the easier assignments I've had so far, and for a second I thought 'Finally!  I can get this done in no time!'

Nope.  I'm stuck.  What am I stuck on, you ask?  Quite simple: I can't decide which story to rewrite.

I know, it's pathetic.  It's not like I have a shortage of stories or novels.  They're all sitting there on my hard drive wondering if I'm ever going to dust them off and look at them again.  Honestly, I didn't think I would for most of them.  Now I have delve down into the depths of the books that needed far too much work to even make them worthy of critique group.

I have to pick out one of the novels that I didn't want to work with anymore and work on it.  I have to face the characters that I've been ignoring for months, or even years.  What will I say to them?  Will they understand?  Will they hate me forever?

So, rather than facing that decision, I decided to write my blog post super early in the day.

I'm a coward.  I know it, you know it, let's get past it, shall we?

I know I can't put it off for the entire day. (Okay, that's a lie.  I probably could put it off for the entire day.  There is a backlog of shows on the PVR I could watch, and if I really wanted to, I could just do a whole bunch of editing and act like that was what I was going to do all along, but I don't want to.)  I just need to suck it up and find a story that I want to work on again and hope that my characters are still willing to talk to me.

Alright, I'm going to go for it.  Dangerous Waters it is.  I hope that this change will inspire me to get back into that book, because I really did love it.  I even have a map of that world, and every time I look at it I feel a little guilty that I shelved it.

Time to get back to my epiphany.  Come on over and see how it turns out?  Maybe you'll be inspired to do a couple of epiphanies yourself.

Starting Nano

Tonight was the third annual Calgary Wrimotaur NaNoWriMo Newcomers Night here in Calgary.  That means that all of those nanoers who are just starting out on the nano adventure, or those that have been doing nano for a while but have never been to a meet were invited out for an evening of meet and greets, tips and tricks and basic info for nano.

Which got me thinking about what I wanted to post on my blog tonight.  I talk about nano a lot.  I've shared my stories, but I"m thinking that maybe it's time that I broke it down for my readers.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a program that is run during the month of November.  The goal of nano is to write 50k words in a month (or 1667 words a day for 30 days).  Ultimately the idea is to have a finished novel at the end of the month, but let's face it, most of the time 50k doesn't create a full novel.

The basic idea of nano is to stop thinking about writing a novel and actually write one.  How many times do you say 'I would love to write a novel' then complete the thought with 'but I doubt I could ever finish it'?  That's not something you'll be saying after doing NaNoWriMo.  Because, by the end of the month you'll have 50k words that you've written (they may not be great, but they're words), and you'll have written a novel.

Now, you may be sitting there gaping at the screen thinking '50k words, is she freaking nuts?  She wants me to write that in a month?  ONE MONTH?!?'  But, let me assure you, you can do it!  I know because I've done it, and I've thought that very thing myself.  My first nano I was extremely nervous because I didn't know how I was going to write that many words while still working a full time job.  I know because pretty much every single person who has ever done nano has had that thought as they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of November.

You can do it!

If you need to, break down that huge number in to the 1667 words you need in a day.  That can seem a lot more doable than 50k in a month (even if they are, essentially the same number).  If you know that you're not going to be able to write one day, make sure you get extra words ahead of time.  And never, NEVER, stop at exactly 50k, because I can assure you that the nano counter will inevitably take away words at the end of the month because it decided that you're program doesn't count words correctly.

You can do it!

If you get stuck, there's a community out there that is eager to keep you going.  Every region has a chat, and if they're anything like ours, someone is always there willing to word war, or encourage you, or even give you a plot idea to get you going again.  Even better are the in person events, because you get to see all of those people around you struggling with the same goal as you, each of them sleep deprived and ready to murder their characters (which really only makes it more fun...)

You can do it!

Because you want to.  Because those words are bouncing around in your head just waiting to be put down on paper.  There are characters that are screaming for their voices to be heard, and you can't just let them keep screaming.

Remind yourself every single day that you can do it.  That this isn't an unattainable goal.  That no matter how far behind you get, you can always catch up, even if it does take some encouragement.

If you need that extra shove, you know where to find me (here, where I'll be posting a blog a day, or on twitter).  I'm more than willing to be the one to ramp up your excitement once more and put you back on the front lines of nano.

Are you planning on doing nano this year?

The Amazing Disappearing Chapter

At the beginning of the month I set out some goals for myself for my editing and planning.  The planning I'm ahead on.  I've completed one novel (the planning stages) that wasn't supposed to be done until the end of the month and started another one that shouldn't have been started until October, so I'm pretty happy with that.

The editing, though, hasn't been going so well.  I was doing fine until I came to a chapter that I had to rewrite.  I knew what I wanted there, but every time I sat down to write it I felt like it was going absolutely no where.

What did I do?  I procrastinated.  I assumed that eventually I would figure it out and get it done, and I continued on blissfully unaware of just how much time was slipping away while I allowed this chapter to just sit there and taunt me.

The other night, though, I decided that was enough of that and sat down seriously to finish writing it.

I wrote about 120 words in a half an hour.  120 words.  That's about what I write in 2 minutes, not half and hour.

At the end of that, I decided that it was time to figure out why it just wasn't working.

I looked at the chapter before it, which ended with my main character frustrated and feeling the need to just get out of the house.  Then I looked at the chapter after, which had my main character trying to work out that frustration with the use of a punching bag.  Then I looked back at the chapter I was trying to rewrite where my main character did something that had to be done eventually, but ultimately put there changed the pacing and tone of the novel too much.

So, I did the only thing I could do.  I took out the chapter.

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't an easy decision for me.  I didn't want to lose the words.  I know how long I want this novel to be by the end of this process, and right now it's about 3k below that goal, and that's all thanks to this chapter.

It was frustrating to watch it go, because I've been trying to make the thing work for so damn long, but I knew I had to let it go for the good of the book.

Sometimes chapters or scenes that we originally write just don't end up working, especially after revisions and changes.  It's hard to hit that delete button, because that's work that we did.  We wrote those words, and now we're watching them disappear knowing that we're not planning on replacing them.  But we can't just leave them there.  If we do, it makes the book less than it could be, and ultimately that's what we want more than anything in the world.

So with a heavy heart I will say good bye to that chapter, and continue editing the rest of the book (which needs to be done in 7 days!  Eep!).  At least now I can move past that chapter and actually make some progress on it.

I Am A God!!

Those are the words that I first shouted to my sister and roommate over a year ago.  They, of course, didn't believe me.  They don't understand the world of writing, so I forgave them.  Then I showed them proof:

This is a map.  Clearly.  But it's not just any map.  This one hangs on my wall right behind my desk, and it has brought me much joy since it was given to me for Christmas last year.

You may notice that this particular map isn't anywhere on the known earth.  That's because this map was drawn out based on a world that I created!  That's right, I made that world.  And isn't that pretty much the sole prerequisite to being a God?  Creating an entire world out of nothing??

Sadly this world has been shelved along with the characters that I so lovingly created (and managed to gain fans for).  But the excitement I felt when I first saw the finished project is something I feel every single day when I'm planning, writing, and even editing.

As a writer, every day I get to create worlds.  I get to dream up new games, and creatures.  I get to commit words to paper that one day may even get read by others.

In fact, when I'm writing, all I ever think about is how the people reading my words will get involved in the worlds I've created.  Will they care about the main characters and the plights they have to survive?  Will they want to visit that part of the world because they would really love to see that creature I created?  Will they get so mad at someone that they'll be tempted to stop reading because if they don't they might just throw the book against the wall?

Will they fall in love with a character and cry when they die?  Will they clap and laugh in glee when those two characters that have been fighting the attraction they obviously feel for each other finally get together?  Will their eyes mist when a new life is brought in to that world?

I want my world's to be as real to my readers as they are to me.  I want my readers to feel like they're there.  Like they knew the cities and the countries that I create.  Like they're best friends with my characters.

If I can achieve that, no matter how well I do as an author (according to the publishing houses and whatever agent I may eventually get) then I know I have achieved everything a writer could ever really want.

So, I will continue to be a God.  To play around with the world's I create, throw my character's twists that they never saw coming, and kill off characters that I would rather see live, because it's what I do.  I am a writer.


**Map created by the ever amazing Eric A. Satchwill.  Visit his site to find out how to order your own map of your world, and become a God by your own right!**

Writing Takes Over

Two years ago, I wasn't even considering the possibility of ever becoming a writer.  I was perfectly happy (if by happy, I mean pretty much miserable) working at Blockbuster and trying to figure out where the hell my life was going to go.  How I was going to get out of Blockbuster without going to a job that I hated more than that one.

Then, as I'm sure all of you know by now, I discovered nano, and suddenly my life changed.

I knew what I wanted to do.  I want to be an author.  I want make a living by publishing my books.  I want, more than anything in the world, to see my name in print.  (Okay, so it's my initials rather than my full name, but close enough.)

Other the last two years, I've been developing my craft.  I've written nine full books, and two half books that will probably never be finished (though don't tell them that.)  I realize that sounds like a lot, and you're probably wondering what I've been doing with those books.  I have the answer: nothing.  None of them have been the book that has made me want to sit down and edit.  Only two of them have I been able to picture on the shelf, and one of them actually has me wanting to edit (which is a HUGE step for me.)

Now, though, as I'm sitting down getting ready to work on that novel, and thinking about one of the four (yes, four.  Yes, I'm insane) books that I'll be writing in November I'm starting to realize just how much writing has taken over my life.

I am now part of a critique group.  Every other week we meet up to tear apart each other's work (and give them encouragement, of course).  When I'm at my day job, all I think about is the work I want to do (and have to do) when I get home.  I was out for supper tonight, and before everyone got there, when we were just sitting waiting for a table to be ready, I had the distinct thought of 'I could be editing right now'.

Aside from the actually writing parts, I participate in a poker night (which basically consists of my critique group with the addition of one person's husband.)  I do a gaming night every once in a while (again, critique group minus a few).  I attend the monthly nano meet ups that my local nano group hosts.  This year I even went to a writing conference here in Calgary.

Then there's the beta reading.  I did my first one this past week, and I've been asked by another friend to do one this week (which I will *hopefully* be starting tonight or tomorrow so I can get her feedback as soon as possible)

I feel like writing has slowly taken over my life.  I'm pretty sure I only have about one friend outside of the writing realm left, and I'm honestly not all that upset about it.

Today one of the girls at work told me that I didn't seem all that excitable or hyper, and while I did seem relatively happy, it wasn't overly so.  When I relayed that to my friends today they actually went silent in surprise, then my boyfriend asked if she was talking about me or another Danni.

Truth be told, I can be myself around my writing friends because they understand me.  And that's something that no one can truly understand until they've experienced it themselves.  People who don't give you a confused look when you randomly put your characters in the middle of conversations (most of my friends just add their characters and make it all the stranger).

My day job doesn't make me happy.  It makes me want to stab myself in the eye with my pen.  Unfortunately all that would do is land me in the hospital with no vision in one eye and a perfectly good pen would be ruined.  So, I'm trying to avoid it.

Currently I have a goal of submitting my novel to agents starting in January.  I'm not expecting miracles.  I realize I'm going to have to stay at my current job until money starts to come in, and I trust my income enough to quit.  But it's a step in the right direction.

Because, one day, writing is going to completely take over.  Let me tell you, that day can't come soon enough.

Is It July Already?

During nano I always find that time moves rather strangely for me. 

First the month starts slowly.  The first and second seem to have all the time in the world as I race ahead of the game, eager to shape the chart that I want to see at the end of the month.  I'm always surprised at how slow the month is going, because if the entire month goes by that slow, then I'll never have to worry about finishing my story.

In the middle of the month, just like the rest of the nano people, I lose my momentum, and the hours drag.  I see the time there, and I just know that if I could actually write something that didn't sound like it was coming out of the mouth of a two year old, I could get so much done.  Instead I just sit there, forcing out the worst words I'm sure I've ever written, and hope for it to be over.

The end of the month goes by so quickly that I'm never quite sure what happened.  In November this resulted in me having a crisis.  I had ten days left, and one more novel to write.  Despite the fact that I had done that very thing twice in the month already, I freaked out and decided that it was too much.  I couldn't do it.  Then I type furiously and hit my goal before that final buzzer sounds (or the time flips over to midnight of the first) and I get to relax.

One the first of the month, it always hits me.  Nano is over, and I now have so many more words.  I'm always a little amazed to see that stack of papers that prove I wrote a novel (or three) in a month.

In the first Camp Nano, I barely hit the 50k mark.  Even though that was really all I was aiming for, I was a little disappointed with myself.  I know I can do so much more, and I had to write furiously to even hit that goal.  Rather than feeling like I normally do with nano, I instead felt like I could have done better, and headed into another round instantly, determined to not lose sight of my goal.

In August I did even worse.  I believe I topped out at 17k, then gave up (both on the story and on the month of Camp Nano.)  Time slipped by slowly, taunting me with my inability to finish the novel, and I eventually decided that maybe Camp Nano just wasn't for me.  Maybe I just worked better in November, and why was I even trying to write in the summer.  I never intended to join Camp this year.  I was going to spend the time editing and querying, then plan for November.

It was a friend of mine that changed my mind.  She's pregnant and going to have three little ones at home this November, so she decided to do the camps instead of Nano, because she just won't have time.  Originally I still said no, but then I changed my mind (I've never been one to turn down a challenge.)  So I launched into June determined to write 75k and finish the novel I started in April and never finished.

Much to my surprise, I felt June starting to move into the same routine November does.  With the quick beginning, struggling middle and panicky end.  I didn't write furiously for the last week, though.  Technical issues aided me in deciding that I'd written enough and I was far too busy over the last week to attempt another 50k.

However, today I can't help but sit here and think about the fact that I wrote 125k last month.  I had been afraid I wouldn't finish the 50k, and then I went and wrote another 75 on top of it.  I started a novel I hadn't even known was going to exist, and I can't wait to finish it in August.  Camp Nano took me by surprise this year.  I certainly didn't write as much as I normally do in November, but considering how much I struggled last year, my final word count impressed me.

Today is the day to stop and take a breath.  Look around and realize that we only have a month to get our lives back in order before another round of Camp Nano starts.  In only 30 days it will be time to dive into new worlds, introduce ourselves to new characters, and prove to the world, once again, that we are writers!

A Planner's Worst Nightmare

As I told you all a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I was going to write a novel without creating a plot for it, just to see how it went.  I started that novel last week.  All I had when I started it was: A basic idea that finally spoke to me after hours of flipping through my idea book; the name of the main character; and A title for the book.

First of all, I have to say, I'm sure I've posted more blog posts than I can count about how much control my characters have over the story. (Once again, I would like to clarify that I don't, in any way, blame my characters for the product that comes out in the end, just what information they didn't give me.  I will always take responsibility for my novels, good or bad.)  When I'm pantsing, though, that control goes far beyond anything I'm comfortable with.

In the past I've had characters randomly show up, but now it's like an epidemic.  Characters are popping up all over the place in this novel.  It started with a pink haired vampire, who didn't even get named.  Moved on to a tiny black haired four year old who creeped the hell out of me.  Throw into the mix a 'trusted' friend that her mother pointed out to her that I just don't like, and we've got ourselves what feels a little like an uncontrollable crowd of characters.

None of these characters ever do what I say.  Just when I think I'm getting the hang of them, they go and do something that I would have never expected.  Including the creepy girl getting friends.  Her mother's jaw may have dropped when she hugged, but I swear my surprise was worse.  I nearly stopped typing and I was in the middle of a mongering session.

The worse part of it all is that I have no idea what's going to happen.  I'm literally taking it chapter by chapter.  I have these vague ideas of what could happen, but that certainly doesn't mean that I do everything I think of.  Hell, my character went to the park where I planned to have her attacked by...well...someone, and instead she sat down and had a discussion with her best friend's kid about making friends.  I mean, talk about not following a plot, these characters refuse to conform to any ideas I have in mind for them.

I was sure I knew the end of my story, and I really do.  Well, the basic idea of it, anyway, however I'm coming to think that the person who causes the end of the book isn't correct at all.  I was wrong on all counts.

Add to that the fact that I have a character who's supposed to be a major player in the novel barely making an appearance, and I feel like this novel is a mess.

I know what you're thinking.  That it's probably not as bad as I'm making it out to be, and to be truthful, it's probably not.  I'm just to certain things when I'm writing.  One of them is that I know my character.  They don't usually surprise me (too much) because I have a really good idea about who they are and how they would react to situations.

I also know exactly where my story ends and how my characters are going to get through it.  IN this novel I keep finding myself in situations that I didn't expect, and therefore couldn't have thought through before hand.

It's scary, and it feels wrong.  I love writing it, though.  Even with all the strange surprises, and the way the characters basically tell me how it is (and by tell me, I mean, I type the words then gape at them as I realize what my character just did.)

After all of that, though, I have to say, I don't regret this decision.  I keep looking at the book and thinking that it's not actually too bad, though why that shocks me so much is completely beyond me.  I still wonder where it's going and what the point of this novel is, but I think that's kind of fun.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give up on my planning.  I actually really enjoy the work I put into a novel before I start writing it, but this series (if this first book turns out to be good enough for me to even consider continuing it) will always be written without a plot.  I don't think I could force these characters into a plot now if I tried.

Now let's see if I can continue to write the novel and not get stuck at the 25k mark, as so many writers around me seem to do.  Wish me luck!

A Pantsing Experiment

Well, here it is, a week into camp nano, and rather than feeling like I wasn't going to get through it (as I did last year) I'm actually doing really well.  A  lot of this probably has something to do with a certain wordmongering friend that has been challenging me to keep my word counts up.  But another part of this is the fact that everyone is actually doing camp nano, rather than last year when it fell a little flat.

Of course, because I was basing my success this year on how I did last year (I won the July round of camp nano, but only int he last weekend when I sprinted across the finish line by writing 25k words...) it's come to my attention that I simply don't have enough story left to finish out the month.

Sure, I suppose I could stretch it out.  Write less words each day so that I don't type out that very last sentence until the last day of camp nano, but where's the fun in that?  To know I can do it and purposely slow down just so that I'm not bored for the rest of the month?  That really isn't me, something I learned my very first nano when I hit the 50k mark halfway through and decided that I couldn't stop the journey just because I'd run out of material.

Naturally, when I realized that I was about to run into the same situation (I project that this book will be completely written no later than Friday, and that's only if I take more days off like I did today) I started to worry about what I was going to do for the rest of the month.

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I think of Nano as a journey.  It's not just about getting the words on the page.  It's a self challenge.  The only person who's going to end up disappointed in the end if you don't finish, is yourself.  Of course, where you consider 'finished' is another story entirely.  Going out to the write ins and meeting other authors who are struggling with the same issues as you is another part of this journey.  As is all the ups and downs your characters give you.

To this day I have never heard a person say 'My nano novel went exactly the way I planned' because no matter how much time you put into plotting something is always going to come up in the middle of a word war that throws you for a loop and has you furiously trying to figure out where that little twist is going to fit into the rest of the story.

Even if my word count is done early, stopping when it's over, to me, is a little like ordering the wrong meal at a restaurant.  It's food, and it's good.  It will satisfy the hunger that brought you to that restaurant, but at the end of the meal, there's always something missing.  That little extra something that you know you would have gotten if you'd just ordered that other meal you had been contemplating.

Nano runs for a month, and I think the experience should be a month long.

So this month, I've decided to do a little experiment.  I'm going to try pantsing a novel.  That's right, you heard me (or read me?).  The queen of planning is going to grab a story by the horns and give it a whirl.  I even have the idea picked out (one that I've looked at before and dismissed as not catching my attention suddenly jumped off the page today and shouted out an idea that makes it so much more interesting than it was before).

Wish me luck!  As soon as I finish Pandora a new novel will be written, and I don't know what's going to happen.  As a good friend told me, it's time to jump off the cliff with my eyes closed.  No seeing where I'm going, no aiming for the soft bushes.  It's time I landed in the wild roses and got skewered by thousands of tiny thorns.

How To Kill Your Characters

As a reader, I have a couple pet peeves when it comes to the books and series that I read.  One of those is when an author cops out.  When they set up huge battle scenes, but somehow every single character manages to survive.  This may seem like a good thing, because my favourite characters get to live!  Shouldn't I be happy?  The thing is, I would prefer being connected to the story more.  To get upset over the lose of a character.  I may be mad, but I will keep coming back to see what the author is going to do next.  I hate it when the author is unwilling to lose a character.  I understand the feeling, but sometimes the story just isn't as good if they don't make the hard decision.

On the flip side are the authors who kill off all of their characters.  Maybe they're overcompensating for keeping a small group of main characters alive, but whatever the reason their characters are slaughtered left and right.  Characters that I've fallen in love with and never wanted to see die.  I know, I know.  This sounds like a complete contradiction to what I was saying before.  The problem comes when all of my favourites are killed off.  It's no longer a question of wondering who's going to die, or thinking that it could be anyone, because at the end of the day nearly every character is being buried.

So, as a writer, how do I use these pet peeves to make my writing better?

I don't want to be the writer that my readers hate.  I don't want to kill of all of their favourite characters (but I really don't mind one or two).  I want my readers to get mad and throw my book across the room, only to go pick it up a couple of minutes later because they have to know what's going to happen.

Now, of course, I've managed to develop a bit of a complex.  I'm terrified to kill off a character, because what if it's the wrong character?  What if I lose my readers because that was the one character that kept them reading the books?  What if I don't kill any characters, and my readers get bored or annoyed because they're going through all of these dangerous situations and nobody ever dies?  How do I find that happy medium where the readers get mad, but don't boycott the books?

I've come to realize that this is an issue that most writers probably struggle with.  Who do you kill off, and who gets the happy ever after ending?

In the series I've been working on I have a character that has had a lot of ups and downs.  Originally I thought he was going to be one of my favourites, but have realized that he's not as great as I thought.  Often I find myself calling him a jackass, and basically wanting to punch him.  Near the end of the book he starts to redeem himself, and in the next one I know he'll probably get back up there as one of my favourites.  So, of course, he's going to be dying.

I'm terrified about this decision.  I know he needs to die, because I need that catalyst to bind the group together while still breaking them apart.  (I realize that doesn't make sense, but I can't explain it without ruining the book, which I refuse to do!)  I need to it happen, but I'm scared that he'll redeem himself too much.  that my readers will start to imagine his life, will start to hope for him to be with one of the other couples.  That killing him off will do more than just make them cry.  (Though, if they do cry, I think I would be elated.  Not cause they're crying, of course, but because I did my job as an author.)

While this fear makes me occasionally think that I'm not going to do it.  That I'm going to let him live, I know that I can't do that.  I have to stick to my guns.  The character needs to die, and I can't allow myself to back down from the challenge.

I've decided to give myself a goal, in order to help myself overcome the fear that I've managed to develop.  My goal is to kill off enough characters that my readers never know who could die next.  This is almost strategic in that main characters have to die.  Characters that they thought I would never kill off will have to be killed.  I still have to make sure, though, that I'm not killing so many characters that my readers become jaded.  That they start to think that everyone is going to die and just put the book down because what's the point.

It's going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it.  I'll have to say a few tearful goodbyes, but in the end, the story will be the better for it, and isn't that really what writing is all about?

Sad Scenes

I've been in hard core editing mode for the last couple days.  I've had to be.  My project, The Commons, is due out to beta readers by the fifteenth, and I'm not nearly done with it.  Unfortunately I've hit a little bit of a glitch.

Usually these glitches occur when I'm finding myself having to rewrite a scene.  I hate having to redo work that I've already done.  It doesn't matter that I know the scene will be so much better when I'm done the rewrite, it just kills me to throw out those words and start over fresh.

This time, though, it had absolutely nothing to do with the editing or rewriting.  It has to do with the scene itself.

This particular scene isn't one I enjoyed writing in the first place.  In previous projects I've had torture scenes that I've thoroughly enjoyed writing, but this one, well, nothing could be further from the truth.  I knew it was coming the entire book, of course.  I had it written into the very plot.  A character was supposed to die.

Here's the thing about books.  They never quite turn out the way you thought they would.  In fact, there's always some element that changes between the plot and the actual first draft.  In this project, that change was the character that had to die.

Originally that girl was a nobody.  Somebody that popped up for the simple sake of killing her off.  I wasn't supposed to get attached.  My characters weren't really supposed to get attached.  They should know her, but they shouldn't care about her.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.

Okay, I say unfortunately, but I don't really mean that.  The change was a good thing.  If my characters hadn't gotten attached, the death wouldn't have meant as much.  It wouldn't have had the impact that I know it's going to have on my readers, once it makes it that far.  I love how it turned out, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

The problem is, that's the same effect it has on me.  I loved her.  She was this quiet little girl who hung around in a library, but she had backbone.  Courage that nobody really knew she had until that last moment.  I loved her because she was afraid, and she still tried to do what she thought was best.  At least for her.  I loved her.

Editing that scene was so much harder than I thought it would be.  I found myself not wanting to read it.  It's a gruesome death.  Reading it made me cringe, which was exactly how I want my readers to react.  If they don't already hate the people who do that to her, I want them to as of that moment.

It just wasn't supposed to happen to me.  I wasn't supposed to be that effected by it.

I know I'm not the only one whose ever been through this.  I've heard other writers having the same problem as me.  We all want our writing to effect other people, but don't think about how we'll feel as we're writing or editing it.

It's one of the challenges we face as writers.  We have to get past those scenes.  At least enough to get it written well.  To make other people feel what we want them to feel.  But we need to distance ourselves, at least a little, from the books that we're writing so that we can do what needs to be done, to get that book to where it needs to be.

So Little Time

My goal, as can be seen by looking at my progress before section, is to have The Commons to a completed second draft so that I can send out to my beta readers by the fifteenth.  That's a whole nine days away, and guess how far I am from finishing it?

If you guessed not anywhere near close, you were right!  I'm stuck around chapter 22 (in which I have to rewrite the first scene) of 35.  In the last two days I've barely gotten anything done.  It's a sad fact for me to admit, as I was actually planning on doing at least two chapters a day.  Of course, I was hoping to be done a bit early so I could take one more look over it and see if I missed anything, but that's definitely not going to happen now.

Nine days and thirteen chapters.  Which means I no longer have time to procrastinate.  I can't let myself get distracted by all the shows I want to watch.  I don't have the time to waste, anymore.  If I do get distracted, I'll end up missing my deadline.  And that's not something I'm willing to let happen.  If I don't get my manuscript out to my betas on time, then they wont get it back to me on time.  If I don't get it back in time, then I can't use the feedback to go through it one last time and start sending out queries.

It's the domino effect, writer style.

Now, I suppose you're asking: 'What does it matter if you get your queries out on time?'.  That's a very good question to ask.  The answer is, I was really hoping to do both Camp Nano sessions being held this year.  I also need to plan out the novels I'll be writing during nanowrimo.  If my editing isn't done, and if the queries aren't sent out, then I have to sacrifice one of those things.

In June I'll be taking part in the first session of Camp Nano, where I'll be writing Pandora, I book that I was supposed to write about a month ago.  Procrastination got the better of me then too, and I only managed 25,000 words in the time I should have been able to write 100,000 words.  I've been trying to figure out a way to get motivated when it's no nano...but that's another post.


The point of the matter is, I've already put off writing this novel once.  I can't do that to the characters again.  They've been awfully patient while I've been editing.  Mostly because I promised them that I would be finishing their story in June.  I'm afraid of what would happen if I tried to put it off again.  There might be a riot.

In August, I'm hoping to write The Techs which is the second book in The Commons series.  I've just barely begun to plan it, but I already have a bit of the story line going on, so I'm getting excited.  Of course, I don't want to write the novel until I'm completely done editing the first one.  I'm a little too wary of the changes that I could make which would mean far more work in editing the second one.  I've done that once, and I'll never do it again.

In August I'll need to write about 100,000 words.  I'll have even less time to work on the novel which should, by then, be completed. 

After that comes the planning for the three novels I'm going to be writing during nanowrimo.  Yes, three.  I'm a little crazy like that.  I'll only have two months instead of the planned three.

All of this means that I only have so much time to get my editing done.  I only have so much time to get my queries out.  And I don't have time to be acting like I have all the time in the world.

Nine days to finish thirteen chapters.  It's going to be tight, but I think I can do it.  What's my motivation?  In November I'll be taking a trip down to San Francisco to go the The Night Of Writing Dangerously.  And when I'm down there introducing myself to people, I don't want to tell them that I'm still working on the novel that I'm going to be sending out real soon.  I want to tell them that I have queries out and waiting for responses.  Or maybe, just maybe, that I found an agent

My First Characters

A conversation this week had me thinking about the first novel I ever wrote.  That would be the novel I wrote during nano 2010.  It was a short 50,000 words and was about an idea that had been bouncing around in my head for about ten years.  It was about the Greek Gods.  Basically the Gods had gotten into a war and, in essence, died.  I believe they had sacrificed their bodies in order to protect Mount Olympus, which would have given anyone to take it over the power to literally control the universe.  The Gods were only able to survive by coexisting in the bodies of their descendants (or the closest thing there was to them.  For instance, one god lived in the descendants of her brother, as she was a virgin goddess.)

At it's core, that probably sounds like at least a decent idea for a book, and I would actually agree.  Unfortunately, it wasn't executed all that well.  Not all the surprising, considering it was a first attempt.  Of course, that's the book that pretty much every single member of my family has read.

Anyway, thinking about that book, I couldn't help but think about the characters.

Now, I don't remember all of their names, I've simply created too many characters since then to remember them.  I do, however, remember the name of the main character.  Well, one of.  She was the first character I created for the book.  Acacia.  The spoiled rich kid, who was somehow more down to earth than pretty much any of the others.  Her parents were famous - an actress and director - who were always on the set of some movie.  The book was set in Calgary, and I have no idea why this famous pair would have a house here, but that was what I decided.  Her parents were never home and loved her through gifts.  She hated this, of course.  She just wanted their attention.

I don't think I've ever written such a Mary Sue character in my life.  But I loved her.  I loved that she hated her boyfriend, but was with him to gain popularity in her school.  I loved that she had a mental break down in the middle of school, ruining her reputation forever.  But, most of all, I loved that three books later I had her tortured and she not only survived, but somehow came out stronger.

I also had a pair of twins in the book.  Oddly only one of the twins had a POV.  The boy.  Don't ask me their names, cause I don't remember for the life of me.  What I do remember about them, though, is that he fell head over heels in love with Acacia.  I remember this because they got pretty close really fast.  They were practically dating by the end of the book.  This may not seem fast, but the book took place over a period of about a week.  The girl twin died in the third book, and his reaction wasn't anywhere near what it needed to be.  He was more distraught when Acacia was kidnapped and tortured.

Where Acacia didn't have any flaws, he had far too many.  He would have needed so much work, just thinking about it gives me a headache.  Yet there were parts of him that I loved too.  I loved that he could get distracted by a girl that he had fallen in love with at the worst times.  I loved that, in a group of females, he was the only non-fighter.  Most of all, I loved the fact that I was willing to take the risk of writing a male perspective on my first time around.

The final two characters were also female.  To be honest, I don't remember much about them.  One, the descendant of Aphrodite, was a tom boy with short spiky hair.  The other I remember even less, but at the time I remember thinking that they were the perfect cast, and when that book was finally written, it was definitely going to be published.  How could it not?

As you've probably guessed, that book has been shelved.  Actually, it's been filed away in a dusty folder in the back of my computer never to be seen from again.

So why am I telling you about it?  Well, as I said, I was talking about the book to a friend this week.  She asked me about it, and what it meant to me.  I told her that maybe one day when I'm a better writer, I might go back and rewrite it.  Give those characters the stories they deserve.  Right now, though, I see that book as the thing that told me I could do this.  I could become a writer.

Really, isn't that what all first books are about?  Very rarely are those first attempts the amazing piece of literature we thought they would be, but in the end they take us a step closer to being the published author we're dreaming of.  While I'm sure the book isn't nearly as bad as I remember it (it was set in the modern day, but no one had cell phones...before you ask, no, it wasn't explained...) I know that I will certainly never regret writing it.  Without that book (and the two others I wrote that November) I wouldn't be the writer I am today.

Stop The Lies!

The other day I found a link posted on the facebook page of my local nano group.  I don't often follow links, but this one caught my attention right from the title, and after I read it, I felt like I had to share it.

The post was entitled '25 Lies Writers Tell (And Start To Believe)' (I would suggest that, even if you never follow links, if you're a writer, follow this one.  I promise you wont be disappointed.)  Of course, considering that I wrote a blog in which I talked about how writers lie to themselves (Click here to read that post) it's not really all that surprising that I was attracted to this one.  I wanted to see what another writer thought we lied about.

First I have to say, I thought it was hilarious.  I didn't stop laughing pretty much from the time I started reading the blog until I was done.  It's fantastic!  Not just what he says, but the way he says it.  The fantastic sarcasm he uses gives you wonderful (or terrible?) images in your head, and you find yourself agreeing with pretty much everything.

Anyway, like I said, there were a few things that I wanted to respond to (In no specific order):

3. I'll Come Back To This Story After I write This Other Story

This is something that I do.  In fact, I'm doing it right now (yes, I feel ashamed, no I'm not going to stop writing this novel...).  Some of the things he says in this are fantastic.  He compares this habit to "leaving a trail of half-eaten sandwiches".  It certainly left an image in my head that I've been unable to get rid of since that day.  This one is definitely something that a lot of writers do.

7. My Characters Are In Control

This one I do have a tiny bit of an issue with.  That's because I do, in fact, write by letting my characters take control of the story.  Now, I'm not saying (as he speculates in the post) that I'm yielding all responsibilities to my characters.  In fact, if the story sucks, trust me, I'm the one that takes the fall for it.  (I may be guilty of being too hard on myself.)  So, while I can understand that some people might use their connection to their characters to create an excuse to not write, I'm definitely not one of those writers.  (Sometimes I think my characters are a little too vocal.

17. This draft needs to be perfect.

Yep.  I'm a perfectionist.  At least, I tell myself I'm a perfectionist.  The truth is that I hate editing, so I end up settling for drafts that are probably far less than perfect.  At the same time, because those drafts aren't perfect, I never end up sending them out to anyone.  They sit forever buried in my computer never again to see the light of day.  I'm definitely guilty of this, but I'm working on it.  This year I'm going to get a book out there (before November, despite how busy I'm starting to realize I'm going to be.)  Just like I have to kill my inner editor in November, I guess I have to kill my inner perfectionist.

22. The (Insert System of Publishing) Is The Only Way To Do It

I understand what he's saying with this one, but I have to admit, there is a system of publishing that I prefer.  That would be traditional publishing.  While I don't have any kind of grudge against other types of publishing, or even think that they're not good, what I do know is that I couldn't self publish.  I'm not good enough at self promoting to get my name out there without the help of someone whose job is to help me do that very thing.  Now, I'm not saying that if I never get picked up by a publisher that means I'll never look into self publishing, I would just prefer it if I did get picked up by a publisher.


Those are the ones I wanted to comment on.  I'll like to reiterate that I loved this post (even if I did end up disagreeing about a few things) and I think that every single writer out there should read it.  If not to gain insight into the lies they're telling (which every writer does...don't think you're the exception), then for the pure entertainment value.

A Fresh Start

Well, the race is on.  Again.  It's time for me to start writing a novel.  One that I've told myself I'll try and get out in the same amount of time it took me to write a novel during November.  In case you're wondering, that means that I need to write this novel in only ten days.  I'm not entirely sure I can actually do it, but that's got more to do with the fact that I'm not putting my life on hold for this book like I do in November.  I have plans with friends, I haven't stopped going to critique group, and I don't know if I'll even have time to write ten thousand words a day.

But now that I've decided to do it, and even promised the character that it would be done by April, I can't back out.  First of all, if I did, I would end up with a character yelling at me and not giving me any rest until  I actually wrote it.  Second, I would be disappointed because I wouldn't have that novel I need to submit to my critique group so I can get my current novel ready for beta readers then for submission.

The worst part is that I have everything planned out.  And when I say everything, trust me, I mean EVERYTHING.  I have character bibles for each of my main to more important background characters.  Each bible consists not only of what they look like, but also their personality, their goals in the book, the motivations, what makes obtaining their goals difficult, any growth they have in the book, what their role is and any back history I've come up with for them.  (In case you're wondering, these characters have some of the strongest and most details character histories that I've ever written...)  I have pages and pages of brainstorming, as well as two pages devoted entirely to a cast list, naming every character that could possibly come up in the book.  And, finally, I have an entire plot written out (not too detailed, because I'd spend the entire time writing frustrated.  My characters don't really like to stick to the plan...) in my scrivener file.

The writing should be the easy part with all of that planning out of the way.  Especially since I don't have to make any actual decisions while I'm writing (which is good as I'm kind of indecisive...) I should be able to just sit down and write it, after all, my characters are even talking to me, and I can see some of the scenes in my head!  Scenes that I desperately want to write.

So what's holding me back?

Chapter one.  It's as simple as that.  When I wrote the plot I made it very vague, and I hadn't really decided on anything, up to and including what the guy did to deserve being killed.  I didn't even know what he looked like or did for a living.  I didn't have a single clue as to how my main character was going to approach him, never mind kill him.  Both of these things were very important as my character is actually an assassin and was being hired to kill the guy.

When I sat down to write, I found myself staring at a blank page certain I had a fantastic idea, but having no idea how I was going to start it.  Where this first chapter, that introduces the character, but not really the story, was going to go.  My mind blanked.  So I got desperate and wrote the first thing that came to mind.  In first person as I had planned.

Turns out the first thing I think of isn't always the right thing.  Or even good.  After 1200 words I was getting increasingly frustrated and realizing that if I continued to write like that the book that I've been looking forward to writing for so long was going to go the way of all the other books I've written so far: directly into that dusty old folder in the back of my computer.  That's the last thing I want.

So I did the only thing I could do.  The thing that nearly made me cry, as those were the only words written on the novel and I was supposed to write 10,000 words.  I deleted them and started over.

While it was a hard thing to do, it was the best thing.  I changed to third person, which I find much easier to write in. (Originally I thought I should do first because so many other books like the one I'm writing are written in first.  When I first started writing I actually wrote in first and never thought I'd be able to change to third.  I was wrong...)

Now I'm only 450 words into the first chapter (a far cry from my 10k goal...) but they're far better than the original 1200 I had been working with.  I'm looking forward to writing the scene, and I'm once again hopeful that I can write something other than crap.

Sometimes you really do have to give yourself a fresh start, whether you're at 1200 or 65,000 words.  Just make sure that you need to give up on it before you do.  You'll kick yourself if you start all over again just to realize that what you had already written had potential.

Well, time for me to get back to writing...hopefully I can hit that elusive 10k soon.  I've gotta get this book written!

Hello Procrastination...We Meet Again

I love planning new novels.  I think I might like the planning stages more than anything else.  I love figuring out the characters and their history.  How those histories will make them interact together.  Where the story is going.  Why things are going to happen the way they do.  And even how the hell I'm going to make the things that need to happen work when all of a sudden I realize that my character actually might not do that very important plot point.

Figuring out those characters and plots is something that I love to do.  I talk excitedly about it to anyone who will listen, even though half of them aren't writers, and therefore couldn't care less about what I'm saying.  In fact, I've had more than one person give me that look. The look that tells me they think I might actually be a little crazy.  (Other writers will know this look.  It seems to be a hazard of the job.)

Some parts of it, though, can be a little hard to get through.  For example, the character bibles.

Now these aren't something that every writer out there does.  In fact, most of the writers I know don't do them.  I find them really helpful when I'm writing, because I can glance at them quickly if I forget an important fact about one of my characters (like their hair or eye colour)

Honestly, I don't use much of the rest of the bible during the writing process, but I find the rest of it really helpful before I start writing.  The bibles help me to truly get a grasp of each of my characters.  I figure out their motivations.  Their goals.  Their quirks.  And, most importantly (at least to me) their history.

The only problem is that I figure out their story, and then I don't want to actually put it into words on the page.  (Yeah, I know, I'm a writer.  That's exactly what I want to do with my life.)  I think it's just that these are scenes and information about the character that I don't get to actually write.  They all happen before my story took place.  So while I have all these ideas about their history, and love the insights these histories give me into my characters, I find myself a little disconnected with them.  I didn't take part in any of the decisions they made.  It's frustrating.

So, instead of continuing with the bible and forcing myself to get through those histories that I love but don't want to write, I do other things to keep myself busy.  Things like watching television shows that I 'need' to get caught up on.  Or writing a blog post (even though I am, technically, supposed to post one today.  I told myself I would at least finish the bible I'm working on.  I didn't...)

Procrastination is an old friend of mine.  I perfected it in school, and we haven't grown apart at all since I graduated.  In fact, since deciding that I want to become a writer, we've become even closer than we've ever been.  We're like those annoying best friends you see on the street, giggling and laughing like the world is a joke.  The ones who buy the necklaces that break apart just so they can show the world how close they are.  How there's nothing in the world that can come between them.  Because their friendship is just that strong.

I think I proved my point.

Shiny New Ideas Take 2

Lately I've been getting a lot of Shiny New Ideas coming through.  Thankfully I've got a book specifically devoted to that very thing, but that's not the point. The point is, I don't have time to be working on shiny new ideas.

I'm currently in the middle of planning (soon to be writing) one book, editing another book, and even have a few collaborations in the mix.  Shiny new ideas aren't going to be worked on until, at the very earliest, during the June session of camp nano (something that I wasn't actually planning on doing, but may end up participating in.  Still thinking about it.  I'll need to get a little bit closer to the date before I really know if I can or not.)

So why are they coming to me now?  Why not when I'm in the middle of my editing and welcome the distraction?  (Yeah, yeah, I know.  I shouldn't be welcoming a distraction when I'm editing.  I'm working on it, I swear.  I just...don't like editing...)

An answer was suggested to me yesterday: The reason Shiny New Ideas present themselves when I'm planning or writing is because I'm being creative.  Those gears are already turning while I'm trying to figure out the novel or write the scene, so those new ideas occur to me because I'm open to them already.

Unfortunately this means that, even for that quick second, I'm distracted by this new idea instead of concentrating on the book I need to pay attention to.  Distraction tends to mean that I'm pulled out of the world, and I can sometimes have a hard time getting back into it.  Focusing on the characters that I need to focus on, rather than the tantalizing story that the new voices bring with it.  (Yes, I'm aware how crazy that makes me sound.  You don't need to tell me.  I've come to accept my craziness as a part of who I am.)

If only there was some way to ignore these thoughts while I'm brainstorming, but still be able to remember them when I'm not and have time to get them down.  I wish it worked like that, unfortunately muses and characters seem to work on the same idea: When we start talking, you had better jump, or we're going to shut up for a good long time and leave you annoyed and frustrated.

For now, though, I suppose I'll just have to grin and bear it.  After all, I've been museless before and it just isn't any fun. (is there such a thing as an editing muse?  If so, can someone tell mine that she's/he's been seriously slacking?  They've used all of their vacation time, and they need to get back so I can actually get past the first draft of a book!  Thanks.)  For years I thought that I didn't have a muse at all, so now that she's talking to me, I find myself unwilling to risk angering her enough that she goes on vacation again.

I suppose I should stop ranting now, though.  After all, Shiny New Ideas, even untimely ones, are better than having no ideas at all, which I know that some writers have a problem with.  I just have to learn how to keep my attention focused on one thing for long enough to actually finish it.  At this point I keep starting series, then scrapping it before I even get to the second book, which means that so far my characters haven't gotten an ending.  I'm hoping The Commons is the one that's going to keep my attention for longer.  Finger's crossed!

Writing Together

In my last post I told you all about wordmongering, a fantastic hashtag that created a writing community on twitter.  And that's what I want to talk about today again.  A writing community.

Most people think that writing is a solitary activity.  For the most part, they're right.  The actual act of sitting down and writing is something you have to do alone.  You can be in a group of people, which I actually find quite helpful, but the writing itself is a solitary thing.

I find, though, that at times the writing can be more of a group activity than most people would think.  Without the writing community (more like a friend, but one that I wouldn't have met without a writing community) Monday would have been a very frustrating night for me.

I am currently in the middle of planning a novel that I'm hoping to have finished the first draft of by the end of the month.  The book has one of the largest casts I've worked with, and one of the characters decided that Monday was the night he was finally going to start talking to me.  Unfortunately it was like he didn't realize just how loud it is in my head.  You may have noticed that I'm working on a few projects.  The characters from all of those books are always trying to get my attention.

Well, he managed to get my attention with a single stray thought.  That single thought managed to get me thinking about the different possibilities that could happen with this character.  Was he going to betray the main character?  Because that was the stray thought that managed to grab my attention.

Except that betraying her wasn't really in his character.  He may be an assassin, but I really didn't see him killing the girl that he trained as, basically, his replacement.  No matter how much I thought about it, though, whatever he was trying to tell me just wasn't getting through.  It was like we were on a call and all I could hear was static with a few words breaking through.  Then it suddenly felt like I lost the call altogether.

So I decided that I had to get some perspective.  That's where a good writing community really starts to come in handy.  With the help of some of my friends, who are also writers, I managed to figure out that the thought he was giving me wasn't at all what I originally thought it was.  I'm not going to post the solution I came up with, because I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.  After all, this book is going to end up getting published, and you're all going to buy and read it, right?

Through talking it out I managed to figure out a whole subplot, a twist, that I had no idea was there.  If they hadn't been there, I'm pretty sure I would have never figured it out.  Something would have always felt wrong, and most likely, my character would have stopped talking to me altogether.  Which is not something that I like to have happen.

Do you have a writing community that can help you work through the problems in your stories?  Or do you go it alone, a true lone wolf?

The Learning Curl

Did you know that Canada won the first ever World Curling Championship?  According to wikipedia this competition was held in Falkirk and Edinburgh in 1959.  In curling there's a team member called the 'Skip'.  Essentially the skip is the leader of the team.  They're the ones that plan out the strategies and tell the team how they need to play that round.  They wear two different shoes while they play.  One that has a grip, that they generally use to push off from the 'hack' when delivering a stone.  The other has no grip, which they use to slide on the ice during the delivery, or to slide down the ice while sweeping.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I thought I would share all the knowledge I'm acquiring for my current novel.

You see, I happened to see a curling game last Saturday.  Not in person, or anything, it was just on tv.  The thing is, though, I've never been remotely interesting in curling.  I've heard it mentioned before, and I had the vaguest idea what they did during the game, but it wasn't something I cared about.  Or ever even had an interest in watching.  So why was I so very captivated by this game?

I let it slide, though, thinking that it was just a one time thing.  I cared only because it was on, and once it was out of sight it was out of mind.  Which was generally true.

Except that I kept seeing games everywhere I went.  This probably had a lot to do with the tournament of hearts being in full swing, but every time I saw it, I wanted to stop and watch.  It hit me when I was sitting in Denny's trying to pay to the conversation, and was instead being distracted by the curling game that was being shown on the tv: it was my character that was making me care about it.

My character (a female werewolf assassin, in case you were wondering) is, apparently, a curler.  She's one of those people I was watching going out on the ice and throwing stones.  Not professionally, of course.  But she definitely does this on her off time.

For me, that meant one thing: research.  I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan or research.  In fact, if I could avoid it altogether, I will, and I have in the past.  I write fantasy novels for the simple reason that the entire world comes from my head.  In other words, no research needed!

Now I'm stuck finding out more about a sport that I never cared about before (though after this is done, I might care just a little bit more) all so I can accurately depict a hobby that my character enjoys.

In the meantime, though, I thought that you all might enjoy it if I shared what I had learned so far about the not so well known sport.  Like the fact that the team with the last throw has what's called the 'hammer'.  It's an advantage in the game, making it easier for that team to score points.  If the other team manages to get points instead, that's called a steal.

Oh, the things we do for our characters.  I suppose I should consider myself lucky for not having researched anything that will have some unknown section of the government thinking I'm a terrorist or the like...yet...

What have you learned about for the sake of your characters?