And Now for Something Completely Different

Happy NaNo Day 1, writing world! Whether you're participating or not (and usually I do not), it's kind of inspiring to see the internet explode with eager writers cheering each other on to hit their 50,000 words every November. I've attempted it twice, and both times had major issues come up that prevented me. This year, I'm DETERMINED to win.

Wait, I hear you say. Didst not thou speak of a book thou wast already composing last month?

Verily, my friends. I got 25,000 words in--around the first plot point--and found myself screeching to a halt. Because I was writing the wrong story. I didn't like the way the plot was going. This story is going to kill me, I swear, and I won't deny it's been frustrating. And so, I am taking a break to let new plot ideas for that idea percolate. What better to do in the meantime than NaNoWriMo, to keep getting my daily words in?

It helps that I got a brilliant flash of inspiration for a new idea just days after pausing on the previous story. While browsing Etsy, I discovered that you can buy love letters. LOVE LETTERS. Real ones, from couples in the 1920s or 30s or whenever. And BAM, story idea. The thing that's odd about it is that it's not a YA story, nor a sci fi, nor a fantasy.

Yes, I made a mock cover. Just for kicks.

My friends (deep breath), I'm delving into romance. I've never done a straight-up romance before, and I'm pretty excited about it. I've spent the last week researching the genre (I've luckily at least read romance before this, so I'm not totally out of the loop), plotting the main points, and building my characters. It's going to be awesome, folks. The story is flowing out
my ears. Already before 8:00 am on this November the first, I've got almost 400 words down.

It seems writing something completely different is just what I need to get me excited about writing, rather than being frustrated about it.

So, my friends, have you ever written something completely different than you're used to? Are you doing NaNo? If you are, buddy me and we can cheer each other on!

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A Different Characterization-- Defining Who We Are by What We Do

One of the hardest things about my most recent book has been my main character. It's not like she's a pain in the butt or anything. Though, to be honest, she could have been a pain in the butt and I just didn't know it. That was my problem: I had no idea who this character was. And it's pretty freaking hard to write a story when you've got no idea who it's about.

I have a typical process for my characters. I usually have a general idea of who they are, based on the story concept. So I spend a little while going places and trying to see the world how they would see it. This usually gives me tons of character fodder, which I then use to write out a very detailed character information sheet. Backstory, favorite food, character traits, it's all there.

image source

But this girl. Seryn. I had nothing. I couldn't even form an entirely coherent outline for the plot, because how could I know what she would do if I didn't know her?

Then I had an idea.

What if I played this one backwards? Instead of figuring out who she was, and then deciding what she would do, I would return to my pantser roots (kind of). I had a detailed world, a fleshed-out magic system, themes that meant a lot to me, and a general idea of where the story was going to go. I would start writing, and throw out some conflicts. Give Seryn some choices, and think about all the possible decisions someone could make in that situation.

Her choices would tell me who she was. Once I knew what she would do, then I could fill out my character sheet about why she would do that. I guess it hasn't been an exact return to my pantser roots. I've got a sort of structure where I know some of the key conflicts and choices, and then I'm let Seryn decide where to go from there. And it's SO FREAKING FUN.

I love discovering who she is. I love finding new conflicts that are stemming from her choices. I love playing with a new story and a new character in a new way. After all, if who we are is defined by what we do, what better way of developing a character is there?

So, my friends, how do you approach characterization? What are your techniques? How have they changed from book to book?

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The Battle Cry of the Writer

Soldiers!

We all stand today united on separate battlefields, determined fire in our eyes and blisters upon our fingers. We bear the scars of rejection. We wear the medals of completed novels, or novels in progress, or novels barely begun.

Our foes are many. They come in uniforms of Exhaustion, Screaming Children, Day Jobs, Plot Holes, and Flat Characters, and Writer's Block. They bear the weapons of discouragement and lack of confidence and fear. But we bear the might of words! The power of the ideas and people and stories in our minds that will not be silenced!

The fight is fierce. We gain a territory of 500 or 2,000 words a day, only to have to retreat and erase many of those words. We scratch out our stories in the dead of night and early morning hours, with nothing but chocolate to sustain us. And each word we write, or change, or even erase only puts us closer to our goal of a completed novel. It is a joy, and it is a challenge many never dare to face, but we come to the fight day after day.

My brothers and sisters. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when the courage of writers fails, when we forsake our words and break all bonds of creativity, but it is not this day! This day we FIGHT!*

Ahem.

Okay. So maybe that was a little melodramatic. But writing can be a battlefield. Writing is HARD. Like so many things in life, it's full of contradictions of joy and anguish and fun and exhaustion and lots and lots of work. More than talent, maybe even more than that oft-mentioned perseverance, it takes COURAGE to face the page yet another day and keep pouring our souls onto it.

So, really, I wrote this battle speech for myself, I think. So that on the days when the pain and work of writing out-weigh the joy and fun of it, I can bolster my courage and determination to work hard.

And you know, my friends, I think we should have a battle cry, too. So here. I made this one for a friend, and for you. And for me. Feel free to spread it to the writers of the internet so we can scream it upon the battlefields of our novels and have the courage to win!

*Yes, I totally massacred Aragorn's great battle speech. I regret nothing.

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Finding Inspiration-- Filling Yourself so Your Writing Can Fill Others

I love writing. I love creating. I love finding a story that inspires me, that I want to tell so it inspires others. But lately, in addition to my blog silence, I've had trouble putting words on paper (or computer screen).

I don't know why. I've been fighting with it. I've rearranged my schedule. I've forced my butt into that chair. I've commanded my fingers to type and get those stupid little letters to form words to form sentences to form a story. And I haven't enjoyed it much, and that kills me.

Writing is an act of creation. Creating something takes energy-- a special type of creative energy from inside you. Of course, the act of creating often gives some of that very energy back. But lately, I've had a particular dearth of that energy. Things in my life have been hectic, with some unexpected changes that will be for the better, but at the moment tend to drain my energy, creative or otherwise.

Luckily for me, Labor Day weekend gave me an opportunity to fill my tank. In a place called Duck Creek exists the most perfect woodlands known to man (or at least known to me). I spent time circling lakes, wandering the forest, roasting marshmallows around the fire, and laying in hammocks watching the clouds. I was immersed in Someone Else's creation, and it filled me and inspired me.

I always find inspiration and creative energy in the creations of someone else. Books, movies, nature, music, good food-- all these things took creative energy to make, and they're still brimming with it. I can fill myself up with it, and then turn around and create something that will fill up another person down the road. It's what I love about creating-- knowing that some day, someone else might benefit from my creative works.

I'm ready to go again. Excited and happy to think about channeling that energy I found into something new and wonderful. And if that energy starts draining again, I'm glad I remembered where to find it.

So, my friends, where do you find inspiration? How do you fill your own creative coffers? How was your weekend?

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The Trials of Writing the Next Book

Thank you all so much to people who donated and spread the word about my sister and her family after their house fire! They received so much help in so many forms, and their family is doing well. Human beings are amazing!

In writing news, I'm working on a new book. And I swear, it's going to kill me. Every book I write is a new challenge in some way. I've developed strengths from working on previous books, and those are being applied-- but I'm also hoping to develop new strengths writing the current book, which means trying things I've never done before.

If I wrote by hand, this whole page would be
crossed out... source

That makes it hard. But you know what else makes it hard? WRITING THAT DAG-GONE FIRST DRAFT. Even the parts that should be easy now because, heck, you wrote some pretty decent characters with one pretty twisty plot before-- well, those parts are not easy. Not in a first draft.

Because you forget. You've spent so much time revising and editing and cutting and adding and tweaking your last book to get it oh-so-close-to-perfect, that you forget how much you DON'T KNOW in the first draft. In my last book, I made all sorts of tweaks to bring out a strong voice for my character.

But this one? I'm getting super frustrated because the voice is bland and boring and isn't actually a voice at all as much as me just hammering out words that create a decent sentence. And then I get frustrated that I'm frustrated, because how can I know my character's voice when I haven't even written her yet? I haven't created those moments where I find out who she is.

It takes a few drafts, at least for me, to find those things out.

And you know what? That's okay. I have to just keep repeating the mantra: First drafts suck and that's okay, just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing writing writing...

But you know what I love about writing that next book? All the excitement of discovering those little things about a new story that you KNOW are going to make it great. In a few drafts.

So, my friends, what trials do you face when writing a new book? And I'm curious, what are you writing now? My new book is a fantasy with magic based on labyrinths and combat styles from India, with an African culture flare. What's yours?

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A Personal Tragedy: Asking for help after my sister's house fire

This morning, I woke up to news I'm still trying to process. My sister Kylee and her family lost their home to a fire last night. The fire started in the garage, and my sister was able to dash into the house and get her baby out before it spread. Her husband also escaped uninjured, and we are all incredibly grateful they are all safe.

Kylee and me at our other sister's wedding.

The garage was gutted, and a portion of the house destroyed. What wasn't burned was melted from the heat, or severely smoke-damaged. Basically, they lost everything, or close to it. And now I'm asking for your help. If you can donate money or items, or even just spread the word, it would go a long way to helping Kylee, Joey, and baby Jakob get their feet under them.

I started a fundraising page, so if you're inclined to donate, you can do that here.

If you have items you'd be willing to donate, you can find a list of what they need and how to contact me on the same website. (Or you can just email me.)

If you can even just tweet a link to this post, or blog or Facebook about it to spread the word, that would help so much.

The fire damage

When we told my 3-year-old son that his aunt's house had burned down, he said, "I can fix her house! I'm good at fixing things!" I know the writing community is also so good at "fixing things." I hate to ask for things, but Kylee is my sister, and I love her dearly, so now I'm asking for your help. Because she desperately needs it.

Thank you so much, my friends.

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Defining your Physical Space to Promote Creativity-- The Feng Shui of Writing

Okay, so I actually know next to nothing about Feng Shui. But when I was at the LDStorymakers conference in May, Sandra Tayler did a whole class on structuring your life to promote creativity. One thing in particular stuck out to me: your physical space.

See, I don't have an office. Or a desk. Or even a little nook to do my writing. I have...wherever I take my laptop. A corner of the couch or the kitchen table usually is what I get, and it works. But sometimes, I really, REALLY wish I had an actual, dedicated space for writing. Somewhere that is just for that, where I can escape just a bit from the rest of life and focus on the lives I'm creating with words.

In her class, Sandra pointed out that you DO need some kind of space that is completely dedicated to your writing. That physical space is like a trigger to your brain: "It's writing time now." So what's a writer to do when you don't have a room just for writing?

Well...you need a space. That doesn't necessarily mean a room. Or a nook or desk or whatever. Your writing space can be encapsulated in something as small as-- get this-- a laptop.

It's writing time! And cute baby time! (My baby's
cuter. Just sayin'.) source

One of Sandra's ideas was to have something you could (literally or figuratively) open and close. This idea works really well for me. When my laptop is open, it's writing time. When it's closed, it's mommy time. Of course, this doesn't always work perfectly. I still mess around on the internet when the laptop's open, and I have writing ideas while I'm mommy-ing that I jot down so I can play with them later when it's writing time again.

In general, though, my laptop is MY SPACE. I even "decorate" it, putting up rotating background pictures that relate to my current project. It's helped a lot to keep me focused so I don't start feeling frazzled. It really has started to "train my brain" to write when the computer is open, and it's like the whole writing section of my brain opens along with my laptop!

So, my friends, what is your space? Is it dedicated to your writing? And how's writing and life going for ya'll since I've been MIA for a while?

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