Plotting - or plodding - to "The End"

I'm nearing the end of my first draft. That's good news, because my editor wants to see it in a couple of weeks. Nothing like a deadline to push me over the finish line!

This book has been fun to write. Sometimes, writing requires gnashing of teeth. Not this time. The conflict is built in, the struggle is real. Take, for example, your Scarlett O'Haras versus your Melanie Hamiltons. (Funny side note, I couldn't remember Melanie's name, so I checked Imdb to look it up and she's buried WAY DOWN on the cast members. Mm-hmm. Case in point.) Complicated or conflicted characters are vastly more interesting.

I'm currently writing "the climax." When the bad things happen. Generally, this is difficult for me, because I prefer the "fiddle-de-dee" approach. Why do bad things have to happen? Well, it would be a pretty boring book if they didn't. Reaching this point in the writing always means a slow-down for me. Where do we go from here? I don't want to rush to the ending, but I also hate drawing out the agony. As an author, I want to draw the reader into what's happening, so if I say, "She had a car accident, but she's okay," it becomes a non-event. There needs to be crashing of metal and breaking of glass and seeing stars as heads connect with windows. In this instance, there also needs to be response. Will this result in someone else being killed because now attention is divided as a result of the injury rather than chasing the bad guy? (This, and more, coming in a book to be released next year!)

So I'm plotting. Making notes. Plodding? Yes, because I don't like to dwell on "bad things," but they are a necessary evil. I'm also excited to finish, because there are many things that need to be addressed in the second draft.

On a side note, I reached out to one of my resources to "get it right" and got an unexpected "hug." Virtual, mind you, but when people are kind enough to compliment my writing, it feels just as real. I'd given him a gift copy of the last book he helped me with, and of course there's the "I'll read it {mumble, mumble, mumble}. I know. On Vacation!" I've heard that enough times that I don't expect much, but turns out he actually did read it on vacation. Not promptly, mind you, but he read it, nonetheless. And he was "so impressed." He doesn't understand how people can just create entire worlds and stories in their heads. Welp, that's kind why I do what I do. Because I can. I thanked him for his time this go round, and he said, "No, thank you for writing such a good book!" (The Jane Doe Ghost, in case you're wondering.) He also left me a review, more feedback for my soul that motivates me to keep writing. In this month where we celebrate things we are thankful for, I'm thankful for readers I can connect with.

I don't know what I don't know

Working on the latest Work In Progress and I've reached the point where I need more research. To talk to a real person. I can make it up, or watch a television show that addresses the issue, but that rarely depicts the truth. It's a sensitive topic. It deserves to be addressed properly.

What is it? Well, I don't want to spoil the story for you. Suffice it to say Bella has had issues with her family, but there are reasons for that. If I'm going to delve into her story, I need to understand the issues. Nobody likes cardboard cutout characters or quick and easy explanations. "Oh, THAT'S why." Sure, I could just say it and people would understand, but being an author is showing, not telling. 

I'm past the midpoint in this story, moving toward the end. My villains have been trading hints for who the killer is, and one of the plot points I wrote for myself to address answers that question for me. Now to prove my theory. I've been fairly single-minded to get to the end, hence my missed post last week and my brief post this week. I see light at the end of the tunnel!

Do you subscribe to author newsletters?

I do a monthly newsletter for my readers - Books & Cookies - which includes a recommendation for a book I've read and a cookie recipe. I like to include subscriber-only content to reward people for signing up. Sometimes that's a sneak peek at a new cover, or a bonus scene, or a giveaway. It is my experience other authors do the same to varying degrees. I've been considering changing things up in the new year, and I'd love to hear from people about the things they look for. This is what my most recent newsletter looked like: October newsletter

Often, audience builders are based on a giveaway. People sign up to get a free book without really considering who the author is and sometimes without knowing what the books are about. I was actually surprised when I did a promotion recently to my subscribers and the winner replied that she'd never read one of my books before. Surprise! She loved it. I was pleased to hear from her but had to wonder why she'd subscribed in the first place. Not complaining, I'm always happy to find potential readers, but it made me wonder how to make the transition from "potential reader" to "returning reader." 

What prompts you to sign up for an author newsletter? Content? Connection? Book news? Freebies? How often do you want to receive a newsletter? New release information only? More often if there's additional content (like my cookie recipes or book recs)? Anecdotes? Inquiring minds want to know. 

The phases of writing

I'm always amused by people who say, "I should write a book." Everyone who wants to absolutely should. What they do with it is another matter. When I first told my former husband I was writing a book, he immediately wanted to appropriate it as "we should write a book." Writing requires more than a solid grasp of grammar, it calls for a thick skin and "sticktoitiveness." Perseverance. My would-be partner lacked all of those traits.

As I'm writing and working with my critique group, the various phases of writing are jumping out at me. When we (my critique group and I) begin our projects, we submit chapters to each other. In the beginning phases, it's mostly the "creative" aspect. Ideas that are still forming. There are lots of errors and issues. The group helps keep each other on track and corrects the ticky-tack stuff along with continuity and plot issues (this is where the thick skin comes in). As the project progresses, we generally get ahead of each other, writing well past what we're submitting, so that by the time we're about halfway through critiquing a project, the author is more or less in the completion phase, which means the work is getting cleaner. Tighter. Accordingly, the critiques are getting sharper, more fine-tuned, because there is less to critique.

In the creative phase I, personally, am less tuned in to the mechanics. I'm trying to get the story from my head onto paper. The details aren't always clear, and I have a much broader picture of the work as a whole. Mistakes happen. Homonyms. Wrong words. Granted, my group is pretty keen to start with so those rookie mistakes are fewer as a whole, but they do pop up, during the creative phase especially. As I move past the creative phase into the fine-tuning phase, those errors become fewer--or at least I hope they do. 

I'm currently in the creative stage with my new work, although at about the halfway mark. The closer I get to the end, the more I know what's happening and the less the story - overall - is going to change. I haven't quite made the shift to fine-tuning, but my partners are closer to finishing their work. In fact, they both have completed first drafts and are working on final drafts. Their critiques are more pointed, because that's where they're currently focused with their own writing. Things they might have not noticed or didn't call attention to in earlier submissions for critique are now jumping off the page because they are looking for those "ticky-tack" mistakes in their own work. 

When I worked the day job, I was a proofreader, looking for errors other people made. I worked with a team, and we were the last set of eyes. The funny part is that by the time we got it, the work had already been through at least three previous sets of eyes looking for mistakes, so there was surprise when we found things that had been overlooked. There are always things that sneak through no matter how many people check you, and that's why you need SOMEONE ELSE to read what you've written - someone you trust to know what they're doing. Someone with at least rudimentary industry knowledge.

I'm grateful for my critique partners who keep me on track, both structurally and creatively. As published authors, themselves, they know what to look for and how to get successfully to the finish line. The critiques always hold value, even if we don't agree with what's been pointed out. If it makes us think, we have the tools to evaluate if what we've written requires greater clarification or if the reader has "lost the thread." There are many times when what we see in our heads doesn't make it to the paper, just as there are many times the reader lost track of what happened in the last chapter. There are also the genre-specific aspects (my partners and I write in different genres) to be accounted for, and we trust each other to know what those parameters are.

As I'm preparing to shift gears in my own work, the shift in focus will naturally apply to my partners' work as well. I hope to add value to their work, as they add value to mine. I couldn't do this without them.

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs

As we approach All Hallows' Eve, I thought I'd share some superstition with you - my own personal quirks.

When I moved into this house, I brought two cats with me. One was very chill, the other very hyper. One was boring, the other an endless source of entertainment. I loved them both for their personalities and because... cats. After a few years, when the older one (the "boring" cat) died, we had an infestation of drain flies. I'd never seen them before. Didn't know what they were. They mostly stayed where the cats’ safe haven was and I had the odd sense it was the old cat either reincarnated or a sign from the old cat. Weird. I know. And no, I didn't share that with anyone because ... weird. Fast forward a couple of years to when the younger cat died. She lived to be over twenty years old and was moving like an old lady, so it was only a matter of time before she "gave up the ghost." The odd thing is that when she died, again with the drain flies. Only around where the cats spent their "safe" time. Weird, right?

When my dad had to move from his home into assisted living, an odd thing happened. The senior living apartment my parents had lived in was overrun with drain flies. These little pests now represented death to me, but I kept that weird belief to myself. 

Recently, I found a drain fly in an unexpected place in the house. One. By itself. In a location diametrically opposed to where they appeared when the cats died. A harbinger of death? Now, it's sort of like when people say "death comes in threes." You're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

I'm currently writing a ghost story. The ghost's name in the story is Penny (this is not a spoiler, so don't worry about not being surprised). This morning, I was taking my shower and out of the blue, something brown shows up on the shower floor. Eww! That did NOT come from me! I step out of the shower for a tissue to pick up whatever it might be, expecting it to be soft and squishy, and to my surprise, it was a penny. Where the heck does a random penny show up from in the shower? There is a possible explanation for this, but it defies logic. Doesn't make sense, that I could carry a penny around on my body for an entire day and night without losing it. What does it mean? Probably nothing, but it does give me thoughts for the book I'm writing! Similar to the conical mound I visited on my field trip, it's a sign, like the world is tossing things my direction to keep me writing this story. I got the message. Not to mention I like the premise to start with, so I don't need the extra nudges - although they're always appreciated.

As to the drain fly? I haven't seen it again, nor any of its friends. Here's hoping everyone stays healthy and safe.

Field Trip

When the pandemic hit, I decided since we couldn't safely travel, it might be fun to visit old mansions. I made a list, and we went to a couple, providing the inspiration for HORNED OWL HOLLOW and DARK SHADOWS. There were more on the list that we didn't get to. I'm still a sucker for a good ghost story, so when I was recently looking for something to do, something popped up in my SM feed that looked interesting. Tinker Swiss Cottage is less than an hour's drive, and being of Swiss heritage, it looked like it would be "scenic," if nothing else, so we planned an excursion. When we mentioned it to a friend, they mentioned a Japanese garden that was also in that area, so we decided to do both.

We try to plan our visits at times we won't bump into a ton of other people - during the pandemic we were often the only people on the tours. When we went to the cottage, we were two of five tourists (unless you count the "support" dog riding in one woman's backpack). Nice, small group. Before we left the gift shop to begin, that particular woman asked if the place was haunted. I'll admit I was hanging on the answer, because that was one of the reasons I wanted to see it! Imagine my disappointment when the docent said no. Only one family had inhabited the house over the past 100 years, and to the best of her knowledge, it was not haunted. I was hoping for at least a story! Regardless, we took the tour, which was worth the trip. I desperately wanted to ask about one particular piece, however. A snuff box made from human bone. Human bone?? Whose? But I didn't. Sometimes, you have to let your imagination fill in the blanks when making up stories. I did learn something that I'll be using in the current work in progress - something I wasn't expecting to see there, but which I'd been entertaining as part of the story. When the world repeatedly presents you with ideas to include, you need to pay attention.

The kitchen with pictures overhead.

The library staircase

The conical mound!
(Look for this in the new book)

After we got home, I searched online for ghost stories related to the cottage, and found a show with Jack Osborne and Jenny McCarthy where they stalked around the cottage in search of ghosts. The usual performative type ghost show, and when Jenny professed to actually see/feel a ghost, Jack shrugged her off and suggested they move on. 🤣 I did learn more of the history of the cottage, and also that they "called in" the ghost hunters because locals were nervous and no one was coming to tour because they were afraid of said ghosts. I think they vastly underestimate tourists, but what do I know?

Then there was the Japanese Garden to get our Zen on. Beautiful day. Beautiful garden. Very peaceful. We had a great blue heron hanging out posing for pictures. Lots of ducks. Lots of koi. A Japanese tea house tucked into the woods. Waterfalls. We had lunch at a farm to table restaurant, and all in all, a very successful field trip.  I leave you with some pictures from our adventure...

The benefits of being a pantser

There have been books where I wish I'd have started with a definitive outline, one that plotted where my story was going and how it played out. There have been books where I had to stop writing in order to plot where the story was going because I was getting lost, or writing "blah blah blah" instead of anything that might move the story along. Being a pantser (defined as someone who writes by the seat of their pants) has its downsides. But then...

I'm working on my new book, and yes, I'm pantsing my way through it. I have a pretty good idea where I'm going and what comes next, but the mystery part has been hanging over me. I have a villain. And I have a red herring villain. Today, as I was trying to figure out what comes next--and I should have had this thought sooner, when I wrote down the motives and reasonable cause for the murder--I found yet a third potential villain, one that makes a lot of sense! 

Sometimes we write characters to fill space. Someone needs to be somewhere and they need someone to be there with. Oftentimes, those filler characters don't even get a name because they aren't critical to the story. Sometimes, they need a name because they're going to have a spot in the story later, or they will be a recurring character. Sometimes you just need to call them something other than "the other guy." Many times, I've discovered that if I've gone as far as to name the character, they need to have a reason to be there--sometimes, even to be the unexpected villain! This is when being a pantser is fun. You write things you didn't know you meant to write and they suddenly come together to make the story richer. Deeper. As if your brain knows before you do and sets the stage, just waiting for you to have that "a-ha!" moment. 

I just plotted my "a-ha" moment. Which makes me excited about the story all over again. Which keeps me writing. Of course, I've been pretty interested in this story from the beginning, so that makes it that much more fun.

Stay tuned for more information on Unidentified Remains!