My new writing life

Character synopsis

2009-04-16T22:20:00.003-05:00

Since I am getting close to the end of my first draft, I need to be thinking about building more depth to my characters. I'm seeing that this maybe my weak spot. How in the heck do I come up with so many different personalities?!?

I came up with something that should help. It will also help me with the plotline, making sure it flows and shows me where holes are. I will write a brief synopsis of the story from each character's point of view. Each person will get to tell what went down in their own words.
I think that sounds like a great idea!! Just the main characters, of course. The minor one's don't get their say.

So far I have gotten most of one of them. Her name is Tiffany and she is 10. I have 7 pages already. I'm trying not to be too detailed, but some of the more important events are so that I can get to know how she thinks and feels about what's going on.

I have 6 characters that I will do this with. I can tell that it's helping. Tiffany is becoming a real person to me now. It's kinda cool!!

I'll let you know who is next.

Novel timeline

2009-04-15T19:45:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make. Since I discovered what a pain in the butt it was to subscribe to this blog, I kinda lost steam on it. I would like a blog where a person can put their e-mail, and get a notice when I post. But this place isn't so user friendly.

Oh well, I'll try to keep with it until I find something better.

So, What have I done lately on my novel?

Well, I re-wrote my time line.
I originally wanted to set the story up with day stamps. Like each chapter would be started like: Day 1, day 3, then 1 month 3 days, 3 years 2 months... etc. I had made a list of scenes and put them in the timeline for the first 13 days, then just listed the rest of the scenes that I would place later when I decided WHEN they would happen.

But then I realized how much of a pain that would be and how distracting it would be from the story. It doesn't need to be that painfully exact.
It was also becoming a mess. I was moving scenes all over, changing days and thinking of more filler scenes that needed to be there... this scene MUST be before that one, but here is another one that can't be on the same day... etc. I was ready to pull my hair out!

So I decided to abandon that idea.

Instead, I went through and organized the scenes I listed them all in order, and put a comment on why the scene was important. So even thought I haven't yet decided WHEN each should happen, I know what order they will appear. I can be a bit more ambiguous on the When.
Then I went back and started marking the chapter breaks. I haven't finished that last part yet, but I am SO GLAD that it looks more organized and I can tell where I am. I placed a check mark at the end of the line for the scenes that are complete. And now I can look down the list and see where I still need to write a scene.

Maybe I should take a picture of both and place them side by side for you to see. My list is 6 pages long, whereas the mess was only 3, but it makes a big difference.

OK, thanks for reading!

Writing books

2009-04-05T14:05:00.006-05:00

Once I decided to start writing, I went a little crazy with writing books. I even had to buy a book shelf for them all that is sitting by my bed. I'm a bed reader so I have all of my wonderful books within arms reach.
Since I have so many that I want to read, I had to develop a system for getting through them all. (I have 82 books right now. I started buying last Aug from Half.com. My wish list is still 8 pages long!!) Of course, I started the traditional way, by reading one, then reading anther. Makes sense, right? But I got impatient. There were so many that I wanted to read NOW and the 'one at a time' thing just wasn't doing it for me.

So I flitted around aimlessly through several of them before I finally settled on a system that works for me.

I decided that the top shelf of my new book case would be my 'in progress' shelf. I chose several books (19 right now) that fit on the shelf and I read them all. I put them in a box next to my pillow and read one chapter of each at a time. Then put it on the shelf and randomly grab another one from the box. Once I get finished with one rotation- with my box empty and the shelf full- I fill the box up again with all of the 'in-progress' books from the top shelf and start over. When a book gets finished, it goes on the bottom shelf. I find another to fill it's spot on the top shelf and continue on.
Sound crazy? It may be, but I enjoy the variety. And since they are non-fiction books, each chapter is a different subject, so there are no continuity problems. (I would never try this with fiction.)

Now for Fiction, I only read one at a time. If there is a certain book that many of my writing books uses examples out of, then I like to read it. Right now I'm reading: The Lovely Bones

What books are you reading right now??

Don't know why people complain about...

2009-04-02T21:57:00.003-05:00

I finally finished Breaking Dawn.

I admit that I was hesitant to read it. I loved the first three books, loved the characters, and knowing them was exciting. But, for some reason, this book got some less than favorable reviews. Entertainment Weekly gave this book a D! All I read was how so many fans were angry and disappointed in this book. I was worried that maybe Stephenie had rushed it's completion since she release The Host that same summer. Maybe her agent and editor knew it would b a best-seller regardless, and so didn't put the extra effort into making sure it was perfectly polished. My own cousin, who even went to the release party at Hastings, said that she got mad at it and stopped reading! So what was I to think?
I was afraid of the fantasy crumbling. I was afraid of becoming one of the many disgruntled fans. I loved these people and their lives and I couldn't stand the possibility of them falling into unbelievable plots, or have them weakened by lack of character building and continuity. I didn't want the fantasy to end for me.
I was so apprehensive about reading it that I had my mother read it first. (She read Twilight on Monday, New Moon on Tuesday, and Eclipse on Wednesday. So I gave her the last installment to 'test the waters' for me). I'm proud to say that after her review of the book, I rushed into it with much more confidence,
Now I have finished it, and all I can think of to say is: WHAT THE #&^$(@# Is Up WITH THOSE PEOPLE!?!?!? It was brilliantly wonderful!!! Sure some things were a bit 'out there' but they fit beautifully with the plot and the direction of their lives. I laughed, I cried, I cringed and flinched. The writing was woven as lovingly as it could be, I saw nothing wrong.
I can only wonder that maybe people wanted things to go in different directions. But this wasn't their story to tell. If they want a story to go the way they want, they have every right to write their own. But to be so mean and critical of Stephenie is beyond me. If I could, I'd give her a huge hug right now. She is my inspiration and has earned every bit of my respect.

Thank you Stephenie for bringing these wonderful people into my life. I only hope that you can someday read and love my work as I do yours.

Ghost writing

2009-04-01T14:24:00.002-05:00

I just submitted my first proposal for a ghost-writing job.

Ghost writing is basically getting paid a fee to write a book for someone. That person may be someone famous, rich, or maybe an expert in their field. And they want a book. These days, everyone who is anyone has a book. But why spend their time trying to learn how to write one when they can just pay someone else to do it. Their name will be on it, and if they are already well known, the book will do well.
Even Bill Cosby's books were ghost-written!

So anyway, I am a member of Guru.com which is a freelancing site. I am only a basic member, so I usually can't bid for jobs. But one came up that I was qualified for and I was able to submit a proposal. (Basically tells them why you would be right for the job, how much you'll do it for, and what you will do for them). So I sent a proposal. Along with about 50 other people, most of whom have multitudes more experience than I.

But we shall see.

What I want to do with my blog

2009-03-31T12:37:00.003-05:00

I recently visited Stephenie Meyer's website, since I am a fan now. Under the link for her first book, Twilight, she describes the writing process and how she got published, etc. It's brief, but interesting. Knowing the 'behind the scenes' aspects of how she conceived her idea and got it into print is interesting to me.

So I figured that would be a good direction for this blog to go. I can talk about everything writing as it applies to my Novel, my attempts at freelancing, as well as anything I learn that I want to share. I have also thought about writing about books I read and how they help me.

I didn't want to just come on here and flail around everyday. So now that I feel I have a direction, it will be easier to write each day, and keep up with this. As of this posting, I only have 4 followers. But if you four (one of them is me) will invite anyone who may be interested, maybe we can get some interesting discussions going. Feel free to comment on anything and everything. I'm learning this blogging thing as I go, so let's have fun.

You can see from my previous posts that I enjoy playing with links. I think it makes things more interesting.

Right now I am at the Texas Workforce Commission about to take a class about a program they are offering for 'displaced workers'. It's about going back to school. I kinda need an income while I play around with fullfilling my dream of being on the Best Seller List.

Thanks for reading!!

Research

2009-03-30T01:35:00.008-05:00

Genetics is interesting, but it can be pretty dry to try to explain. I have a scene where I have to detail the inheritance patterns for eye and hair color. I wrote A LOT , but I'll probably have to cut it down so that I don't put anyone to sleep. Is this something YOU would be interested in knowing, or would you rather not have it detailed in a novel you are reading?

My research is going slow. I have so many things I need to research, but I'm not so good at finding the info I need. I feel like I'm going in circles. I have a book in my wish list at half.com that will hopefully help with that.
(The Craft of Research)

OK, So I'm almost finished reading Breaking Dawn. So many people say they are dissapointed in this book. I am dissapointed that it's the last one. Other than that, I can't see why people have a problem with it.

Here are some links:

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

discipline

2009-03-29T22:40:00.001-05:00

One of the most important things of being a writer is discipline. For me, I have trouble MAKING myself work every day. Since I have been layed off since Jan, I don't really have an excuse for not getting the first draft of my novel completed yet. I also shouldn't have so much trouble keeping up with this blog.
One of the reasons I haven't been posting is because I have NO audience yet. Who in the heck would bother reading these? Honestly, I don't know. But writing it will help with my typing skills, if nothing else.
Maybe I could post bits and pieces of my novel. Not sure I wanna do that. Well, I'll just try to keep up with this.
OK, Well, I'm at Waffle House right now and need to get to my writing.

The life of writing.

2009-03-05T03:07:00.000-06:00

Sore butt, aching wrists, black pinkie (I'm a Leftie, so my little finger is always colored from dragging over my work). Let's see, add a stiff back and neck to that. You'd think OTJ aches and pains are not something a writer would have to deal with. But these Waffle House seats are hard.

So here I sit. My daily writing quota un-met. Sometimes it's hard to get the mood going. Sometimes I can sit here for a few hours and get so much done. Other times I sit for 6-8 hours and not even get one set written. It just depends on the distractions and how well I can ignore them. Right now I am too busy playing with links.

I guess I should get back to work now.

Have a good night.

Just playing

2009-02-20T00:54:00.001-06:00

Some of my favorites for my new blog: (Also cuz I'm playing with putting links)

My favorite Author is Dean Koontz

His series called Odd Thomas is my favorite.

My current favorite TV Shows:
Dexter: The First Season

Carnivale - The Complete First Season

and
My Name is Earl - Season One

Working on my novel

2009-02-20T00:24:00.000-06:00

Good morning to whoever is around to read this.

I am sitting at the Flying Jay Travel Center working on my novel. I am going to pull an over-nighter since my kitty has an appointment at 7:30 Friday morning. I don't like to get up so early since I stay up late.

Now I have to figure out how this works.