...and Happy New Year

First - advance notice that there will be a newsletter going out next week. If you haven't signed up, you can do so here. 

Second - if you want to be ahead of the crowd and get an advanced reading copy of BREAKING THE MOLD, you can do that by signing up for the newsletter, or by updating your newsletter preferences to include "ARC reader." 

Third - I guess it's time to get to this week's blog post!

While I've been taking a holiday break from writing, ideas continue to bombard me. "I could write a book about this!" "Oh, wait! This would make a great story!" etc. Which goes to prove authors never really stop writing - if you include the writing they do in their heads. This creates problems for when I actually do sit my butt down in front of a keyboard to type actual words into a story. This author's life goes something like this:

That article I read about the man who goes to the psychic was really cool! He's learned how to be skeptical, as much as he wants to believe in them. Like me, he has grown up enjoying stories like that in books he's read, or TV shows. So when he stumbles on a "real" psychic as part of a job assignment, he's more or less blown away. Makes me think of Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost. Think of all the story angles I could explore with this! Should I make an appointment to see a psychic for my own personal edification? 

Oh! That might make a great series! Suddenly Psychic. Random events out of the ordinary that happen to people that they can't believe. Remember watching Night Gallery? And The Sixth Sense? (the TV series, not the movie). And then there was the Twilight Zone, but that was maybe less about mental perception... Time to binge some television shows.

(A book shows up in a newsletter, or maybe it was an ad somewhere.) A gargoyle? That morphs into a human? With wings? That's kinda cool! I could write a gargoyle. The Bodyguard. Kudos to the author an attention-grabbing passage that totally sucked me in. 

(A Christmas book ad shows up somewhere.) Oh! I have a great idea for another Christmas book! Maybe I should write that instead! Or in addition to. No, I really should focus on the new series, but a Christmas book! Squirrel! How fun would that be? Except Christmas romances are usually on the "sweet" side, and the idea might take me into something steamier. I could make it a male Cinderella type story. Yeah. That would work...

I really need to start writing. Start trapping those squirrels one at a time. A New Year's Resolution? 

Wishing you all health and peace in a Happy New Year.

Navigating the Land of Make Believe

Every author has their own method when it comes to writing a story. You hear about plotters and pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants). You hear about story boards and outlines. Me? I live in the land of make believe. I often see scenes or interactions, but not always the big picture. I don't always know where the story is going. That's the case with my current work in progress.

Sometimes, I'm very structured, which makes the job much easier. Other times, I have no idea what comes next. Scratch that, I have an idea, but only the barest of bones. I generally know the theme of the story, where the story needs to go. But aside from that, it's like playing Barbie doll. I put the characters on the page and make it up as I go along.

When my creativity falters, I have a tendency to make notes, plot points to cover. Free form outlining, in a manner of speaking. When I know where the story is going but it isn't clear, I write directly in the story about what needs to happen rather than paragraphs that "are" the story. Sometimes, I hear the dialog in my head, and I write that down to spur on the words around it. Those notes often turn into brainstorms of "Wait a minute. If this happens, then that has to happen." And sometimes those notes serve as a vehicle to get me writing. Once the words start, more and better words tend to follow. Some notes make it into the story, and some don't. When I'm really at a loss, I have a girlfriend I bounce ideas off of. I'll switch to my email program and start writing to her about the problem I'm facing, and oftentimes, in the course of explaining it to her, a flash of brilliance strikes me and I've solved my own problem. It's about stepping into my imagination and getting the engine started.

In my current work in progress, I'd reached a point where my main character needs to face her fears. Unfortunately, I didn't know what she was afraid of. I went over the usual phobias with a complete lack of interest, but then I thought about how intimidating big dogs can be. Which led me to one of the background characters who wanted to be a canine handler. Instant conflict! (I love it when a story comes together!)

Writing without an outline is like taking the long way around the block. You might get lost, but you might also discover routes you never knew existed. Each path has its own rewards, and I could argue the benefits of both methods. When writing to a deadline, outlining is a better road to your destination--it gets you there faster. Without that constraint, taking the uncharted path can often be an entertaining diversion, or a frustrating exercise in losing your way. 

The takeaway message to all of this is that even if you don't know what comes next, what to write, write something. "Something" almost always leads to something more.

Playing with dolls?

Usually, when I need to think through an idea or a plot point, I take a walk and "have a conversation" with my characters. I explore what they need to convey, what the consequences are, what a discussion might look like. Over the weekend, I was trying to decide what sibling rivalry among three grown sisters might look like, but because it was the weekend, my Dear Husband joined me, which meant I talked to HIM and not to my characters. So when I got home and sat at my computer, for whatever reason, Barbie dolls jumped into my head--as in "maybe I should act this out with my Barbies." (Except I don't have any Barbies anymore.)  

True confession time. When I was a kid, I loved playing with dolls.

Instead of resolving my plot point, my thoughts carried me away to all those people who ask me where I get my ideas from and how I find character names and traits and settings and plots and "How did you think of that?" in general. My pat answer is that I have a very active imagination--and I do. Playing with dolls might have been my first outlet. No, maybe it was the second. 

I was barely old enough to write the first time I knew I wanted to write books. I hand-wrote a story about a mother cat and her kittens (yes, I still remember!). Sent it off to Simon and Schuster (which means I must have been old enough to know how to address a letter). And boy were my parents surprised when I got that rejection letter back! But I digress...

Dolls. When you played dolls, didn't you make up a life for them? Things for them to do? Drive Ken and Barbie around in the Barbie Convertible? Dress them up for work? At the end of the day, that's what authors do. We decorate the Barbie house. We dress Barbie up for her day. We send her out with her friends. We make up things for her to do. 

I remember playing with dolls longer than some of my friends. Maybe, I still do.

  A | BN | iB | K   

  A | BN | iB | K  

  A | BN | iB | K   

  A | BN | iB | K  

  A | BN | iB | K