Writer-In-Progress

On the same note as yesterday’s post regarding creativity abounding around us, today might be as much a physical challenge as a creative one.

Be a listener. Do as little talking as possible. I guarantee this will be tough but when you spend more time listening and less time thinking about what to say in response to something, you might just hear something to help your story.

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• Filed in Fiction Advice, WIP Tip

I firmly believe the universe gives the writer what they need when they need it–you just have to remain open.

Today, make a habit of stopping, looking and listening for potential ideas and sparkling little gems that will help advance your story, answer story problems, deepen your characters or clarify plot.

You might be very surprised at what you find…come back and share with us if it’s good stuff

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• Filed in Fiction Advice, WIP Tip

Over this past weekend, I did something I said I’d never do again: begin writing a new fiction novel. Me and fiction make lousy bedfellows, what with his constant tossing and turning and bringing home new wenches (ideas…lol) every night. He always left me hanging, rarely finished anything he started and I was fed up.

But a few weeks ago, I woke up from a dream about rosemary. The plant, not the mom of the demon-possessed kid. I’m all about plants and planting, and it is spring, so I didn’t think much of it.

Until I woke with the same image in my head the next day. And the next. And…well, you get the idea. Something told me it was a trick from my muse to get me back into writing fiction again, but I wasn’t falling for it.

That is, until she gave me a name and a picture.

Flipping through a glossy magazine a few nights later with nothing fictional on my mind, a photograph literally jumped from the page and implanted itself in my brain. I knew this picture (I’d never seen it before) like the back of my hand. In this picture was my heroine and her story. The entire novel in a 4X6 black and white photo with an elephant lamp in the background.

I quickly passed the page but the image was caught in my head. I went about my usual business for a few weeks, thinking about rosemary and the picture every now and then but taking nothing seriously. But when I started hearing voices–accusations and conversations–in my head between these characters (see previous post, Plotting by Ear)), I knew I was toast. It was futile.

I was charged with the job of telling this story.

But in looking at this photo, ripped from the page of the magazine I’d saved on a whim, knowing I wouldn’t be able to escape, I am overwhelmed by the amount of story to be told. My other novels did not start with a photo. Instead, they were grains of sand wrapped slowly and securely with layers of shimmery, glistening pearl. Sure, there were images I found later that conveyed my internal, abstract storythoughts into the real world, but nothing like this picture.

The difference between my other stories and this one is that when I began those stories, I had but a word or two that blossomed into a story. This time, I have over 90,000 words to tell about this single picture that are in desperate need of shaping and narrowing into a single theme. It’s a little scary but I know my way around words. I think I can do this…

How do you write your stories? From a sentence up or a story down? Just curious. I may need some brains to pick on this journey….

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• Filed in From Notes to Novel

Interesting fictional characters are made of real people quirks. Today, observe someone and try to figure out what makes them tick.

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• Filed in Fiction Advice, WIP Tip

Today’s post is a blog entry from Pat Holt at HoltUncensored.com. Her experience in publishing and editing is terrific, so tap into her knowledge by checking out her post.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Fix When They Do) by Pat Holt at http://www.holtuncensored.com.

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• Filed in Fiction Advice, Sites for Writers

I know, I should be writing. Don’t worry, I have been. I’m home for the day for an appointment, and have spent a good hour on the story. About to wrap up the end of the first scene in chapter 1…and I realized I don’t have a solid character name for my hero. I do have a “working” name that came out during on of the heroine’s dialogues with a secondary character, but I’m one of those who absolutely must know the character’s name before I can write it.

Mind you, I won’t get started with the hero until the last line of chapter one, when the heroine time-travels back to his bed (oooooh…spoiler alert ) but I need to know it because she’s going to be thinking of him in the next two scenes.

So how fun is it when I checked out some babyname places online and found this one? It’s from the Social Security Administration (maybe this is where my money is going…LOL) where you can plug in any year after 1879 and get a listing of the 50, 100, or even 500 most popular names that year? Extremely cool, especially if you write historicals. My story is set around the 1860s so it won’t be spot-on but a good resource nonetheless. You can get both male and female names.

Go on, check it out. Every writer deserves a little play time You can choose by year, by decade, by state and you can search individual names to see how popular they were as well. Oh, yeah…don’t forget to get back to the writing!

Popular Baby Names by Birth Year at the Social Security Administration website

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• Filed in Fiction Advice, Writing Freebies & Fun

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that I have a love/like (never hate) relationship with writing fiction vs. freelancing. My fiction doesn’t sell, my freelancing does. If you’re a writer, a little gratification now & then (in terms of a paycheck and/or credit) is nice, hence why I’ve been doing more freelance lately.

Last week, in cleaning up some old files, I found the beginning of a story I started last year and realized that it’s really not that bad. I love the premise (if you’ve read Mandi’s Lucky Day, it’s a little twisty like that) and the hero is just a flat-out hunk with a tortured soul. I’ve been reading over the old notes and finished pages (about 12), and have found the story creeping back into my mind at odd times of the day.

Last night, I took the fiction writing notebook (yes, I have a fiction and a freelance one…they look and feel different) to bed and instead of getting sleep, brainstormed on the first three chapters, intent on answering one major question:

Who falls first?

Romance writers know what I mean. In a romance, either the hero or heroine has to give in first and show their hand in the attraction game. Otherwise, you lose readers. (In case you didn’t know, Mandi is the one–and only–since the story is from her pov). There has to be some type of awareness on the part of one character for the other or we just run around in circles waiting for someone to make a move.

However–this is one of my weaknesses. For the most part, I’m a pantser. I do a bit of broad, overarching plotting (I know the beginning, ending and first kiss scene), but I generally write the rest by the seat of my pants. In the case of showing their hand, I rarely know who goes first, and when writing as a pantser, find that it’s difficult to nail down.

So when I sat last night with the notebook and freshly-loaded fountain pen, I was trying to save myself a little grief and know the attraction focus from the start. I’ll be honest: I didn’t have much faith that I’d figure it out. I was tempted to just start writing and see how far I got, but instead I asked a lot of questions of my characters. I actually learned that my heroine’s ex didn’t get caught with the secretary, he had some type of secret life (hence the “ex”). I discovered that the story takes place in mid-spring Chicago, not Louisiana. I realized that my heroine’s original name of Lily is entirely too light and simple for such a complex girl (I can’t write far into a story without the perfect name. Once I name a character, they almost NEVER change). I also found that Christopher (that hunky hero I mentioned above) likes drinking scotch (ick) in quiet, dark bars. I found that I didn’t need the setup scene in chapter one: if I dive into the story, it makes much more of an impact to the plot and reader.

Oh, and I discovered that Chris falls for [Lily] first. She’s the exact opposite of the type of woman he thought she’d be (a setup date for a friend), and he is totally enamoured with her when she sits beside him at the bar and chats up the bartender about the loser professor she’s gotta date for her sister in law…which happens to be him.

That’s why I love fiction writing. Unlike freelancing, which I can almost completely complete in my head, I have to write out the problems of fiction to discover the solutions. Must be the mystery that has me hooked. Or that hunky hero…

What the heck am I doing here telling you about it? Where’s that fiction notebook?!

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• Filed in BethWorld, Fiction Advice, Writer's Life

I’ve had an epiphany. At least I think it’s an epiphany. Since I don’t have them all that often, I’m not sure if it’s an epiphany or just a wildly random thought…or maybe even just good, old-fashioned common sense rearing its head.

For so many years I’ve written fiction. I’ve loved every moment, every word, every character speaking in the middle of the night in my mind, begging me to get up and write their latest revelation. Honest. But there’s been something in the fiction that’s held me back. If I could publish just the beginnings of fiction stories I’ve started I’d have several anthologies. Don’t get me wrong–I completely love writing fiction.

But just over a year ago, the opportunity to write nonfiction–for a national publication–fell into my lap–or onto my desk–quite literally. Being the always-up-for-something-new person that I am, I jumped right in. Who would have thought my first stint with nonfiction would have reached a national audience not once but twice? Surely not me. Heck, I’d never even considered nonfiction at the time.

But I loved it, too. For different reasons than I loved fiction.

Nonfiction is structured. I know where I’m going (most times) before I begin. The research or interviews or outline guides me exactly where I’m going. I have a word count, a theme, a tone and a built-in audience willing and ready to read my composition. Like fiction, I get nonfiction ideas around every corner (and that, at times, is no joke!) but the difference is I can sit down and pound out a 3,000 word first draft of an article in the time it takes me to go back into my fiction and remember where my characters are. With every piece of nonfiction I work on, I learn stuff. I certainly never thought I’d be able to tell you the psychological factors that typically affect premature twins and not singles or what makes a small publisher different from an independent publisher…but I can now.

Now back to your regularly-scheduled epiphany…
I know these things may not make sense, but to make a long story short (which is something any good fiction writer needs to be able to do), I (think) I’ve decided to switch gears and start writing more nonfiction than fiction. Wow. I never, ever thought I’d say that and mean it but I do. The epiphany was…if I am continually told how excellent my nonfiction is…and many people comment to tell me how much they enjoy it and how much they’ve learned from it (gratifying the English teacher in me), then why am I not doing more of it? I’ve had two terrific nonfiction book ideas I’ve put on the backburner in this need to be fiction-published and think of how much fun it will be to work on a book where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel before I get there. (Of course, they’re both books for writers).

I don’t really have anything to lose. The discipline and skill I learned writing fiction will serve me well as I cross into the realm of nonfiction…and I won’t totally leave it behind…but I won’t feel so guilty about it!

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• Filed in BethWorld